November 4, 2021

Dear Ecumenical Partners,

Warm greetings to you from Taiwan, the PCT and the Taiwan Ecumenical Forum (TEF) for Justice and Peace. Trust you have been keeping well during these extraordinary pandemic days.

The TEF will be holding a two-day webinar under the theme: “The Neo-Cold War: The Resurgence of the Geopolitics of Global Empires in (North) East Asia.” Please refer to the attached concept note. You are cordially invited to participate in this webinar whose keynote presentation will be by a Taiwanese scholar, Dr. Lai I-Chung.

The webinar will take place on December 7 and 8, each a two-hour session. Due to the worldwide location of various speakers, panelists and convenors, each session will begin at 8 PM Taiwan time.

Please refer to the attached program for the webinar.

On the second day a panel of 5 from Korea, Japan, HK, Philippines, and Aotearoa/New Zealand, the panelists will speak from their national perspectives.

As you undoubtedly are aware, the regional tension is getting serious in East Asia. TEF is addressing this burning issue to share with the ecumenical family. We would be very honoured if you can accept our invitation to participate in this two-day webinar.

With much appreciation,

Chris Ferguson and Jooseop Keum

TEF Co-convenors

Concept Paper

Two-day Webinar: A critical theological and missiological conversation on East Asia Geopolitics from a regional perspective.

Theme: “The Neo-Cold War: The Resurgence of the Geopolitics of Global Empires in (North) East Asia.”

Proposal: To deepen the reflection presented in the last TEF steering group meeting by providing a global and regional perspective and stimulating a conversation on the churches role for just and peaceful co-existence in the face of shifting power relations and regional instability focusing on but going beyond the China-US Imperial and hegemonic power struggle noting the roles of Japan and India among others. The webinar will invite reflections from the perspective of peoples movements and life-centered values rooted in nurturing a renewed gospel-based theological prophetic imagination to usher in transformed regional relationships for the “healing of the nations.”

The intention is to contextualize the Taiwan – China conflict in a regional/global perspective focused on forward-looking, justice-seeking missiological imperatives for the church in (N) EA and globally which lead beyond descriptive analyses of Imperial power plays.

The webinar will involve two sessions of two hours each with speakers from Taiwan, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the Philippines enriched with reactions and dialogue with participants in TEF from a global perspective.

TEF invites you to register for the TEF Two-day Webinar at 20:00 p.m. (GMT+8:00) on 7 & 8 December via Zoom.

Online Registration Link: https://forms.gle/MZ5k81Hi6NY4gXkh7