Koji Murata is currently Professor of International Security Studies at Doshisha University, Kyoto. Professor Murata obtained a B.A. in Political Science from Doshisha University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Kobe University. He also holds an M.Phil in Political Science from the George Washington University where he studied as a Fulbright fellow. Dr. Murata has received various awards: the Yomiuri Merit Award for New Opinion Leadership, the Yoshida Shigeru Award, the Suntory Academic Award, and the Shimizu Hiroshi Award from the Japan Association for American Studies. His specialties include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the U.S.-Japan alliance, and Japan's foreign and defense policy. He is the author of four books in Japanese and many papers and chapters both in Japanese and English. Professor Murata is a frequent commentator on TV, newspapers and magazines in Japan.

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About the Discussants

Wu Xinbo is a 2006-2007 Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is Professor and Deputy Director at the Center for American Studies, and Associate Dean at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University. He teaches Sino-American relations, U.S. Asia-Pacific policy and writes widely about China's foreign policy, Sino-American relations and Asia-Pacific issues. Prof. Wu is the author of Dollar Diplomacy and Major Powers in China, 1909-1913 (Fudan University Press, 1997), Turbulent Water: US Asia-Pacific Security Strategy in the post-Cold War Era (Fudan University Press, 2006), and has published numerous articles and book chapters in China, the U.S., Japan, Germany, South Korea, Singapore and India. He is also a frequent contributor to Chinese and international newspapers. Dr. Wu attended Fudan University, and received a B.A. in history in 1986 and a Ph.D. in international relations in 1992. In the same year, he joined Fudan’s Center for American Studies. In 1994, he spent one year at the George Washington University as a visiting scholar. In the fall of 1997, he was a visiting fellow at the Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University and the Henry Stimson Center in Washington DC. From January to August 2000, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Balbina Y. Hwang is Assistant Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, and has been appointed Senior Special Advisor to Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill; she will assume that position later this fall. Until recently, she was Senior Policy Analyst for Northeast Asia in the Asian Studies Center of The Heritage Foundation. Hwang, a native of Korea, was a Fulbright Scholar to South Korea in 1998-99 where she conducted doctoral dissertation field research. She has received several writing awards, including ones from the International Studies Association and the National Capital Area Political Science Association. She is a frequent guest on media programs and has also testified as an expert witness before Congressional Committees. Hwang earned her Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University, an MIA (Masters of International Affairs) from Columbia University, an MBA from the University of Virginia, and a BA in philosophy and government from Smith College. She has taught at the University of Maryland and American University.

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