Speaker: Shinya Murase, Sophia University

Time: 15:00-17:00 pm, April 17, 2023, GMT+8

Venue: Zoom Meeting ID: 882 2830 4601 Passcode: 130537

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Ryukyu, unified in the 15th century and lasted to the 19th century, was a very small nation which barely maintained the status of an “independent” State, despite that she was under the “double subjugation” of China and Japan. Ryukyu was China’s “Tributary State” since the 15th century, and also became Japan’s “Vassal State” after the invasion by Satsuma Domain of Kyushu, Japan, in 1609. The Kingdom of Ryukyu was able to survive as an independent State under international law through its brilliant manuevering of diplomacy, which may be characterized as the “diplomacy by the loser” through carefully balancing the power relations of the two competing “big brothers”, China and Japan. It is crucially important to positively re-assess the significance of Ryukyu’s diplomacy conducted during these 270 years.

Even in today’s world of the 21st century, there are weak States under similar situations. It is easy to imagine that they become the target of the neighboring big States to be forcibly annexed, or at least to be taken, against their will, into the latters’ “zone of influence”. Such a danger is not limited to small States. Even a medium-size State can be a target by a neighboring State in today’s world. It is only through “diplomacy” that these relatively vulnerable States could seek to survive in the international community.

MAKISHI Chochu (1818-1862) is a historic figure in the 19th century Ryukyu who acted as an interpreter/diplomat/statesman facing the visiting representatives of the Western States such as France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. He was one of those who tried desperately to preserve through diplomacy the independence of the Kingdom, and a great deal could be learned from his footsteps. Professor Shinya Murase published a novel, Kurouchi Hyogo (= Murase Shinya), Love and Hope of the Kingdom of Ryukyu: Makishi Chochu and Chiru (Shinzansha, 2016, in Japanese). As a novel, it was merely a fiction based on the author’s imaginations. This time, the lecture will explore the subject in a scientific manner.

Biography:

Shinya Murase is Professor Emeritus of Sophia University in Tokyo. He obtained B.A. from International Christian University, Tokyo and S.J.D. from the University of Tokyo. He was Visiting Scholar/Research Fellow at Harvard Law School from 1974 to 1976, and Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School in 1995. He served as Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank from 1998 to 2004. He was a Member of the UN International Law Commission from 2009 to 2022 and its Special Rapporteur for the topic on the Protection of the Atmosphere from 2013 to 2021. He was also Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and of the Institute of International Law.

His major publications include: International Law: An Integrative Perspective on Transboundary Issues (Sophia University Press, 2011, in English) and International Lawmaking: Sources of International Law (Toshindo, 2002, in Japanese). The latter has been translated into Chinese and published by the Chinese People’s University for Public Safety Press.

Source: Peking University Law School