Emerging Leaders in East Asia

The initial phase of this project brought together leading American scholars of contemporary East Asia to produce a comprehensive study mapping the political landscapes of South Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan, and provided U.S. government and corporate leaders with a better understanding of the region’s future leadership. This project examined the qualities and characteristics that define these emerging leaders, distinguished them from their predecessors, and analyzed what their increasing influence might mean for U.S. policy interests in the future.

The full NBR project report Emerging Leaders in East Asia: The Next Generation of Political Leadership in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan was published in September 2008. In May 2008, NBR released a summary of the study’s key findings and conducted briefings in Washington, D.C., for corporate and government audiences.

NBR is launching a follow-on initiative that will identify and bring together up-and-coming leaders from several East Asian countries through a series of workshops and conference in the region and the United States. The initiative will produce ongoing research, reports, and meetings designed to facilitate dialogue and networks among the rising generation of leaders in Asia. Participants will have the opportunity to provide briefings for U.S. government officials, congressional members and staff, business executives, and the academic community. The first such workshop was organized in collaboration with the Korea Institute for Future Strategies in Seoul in December 2009.