New Architecture of Pacific Asia in the 21st Century : Opportunities and Challenges for Mongolia and Pacific Russia

The article attempts to compare the geopolitical conditions of Mongolia and Pacific Russia contemporary development considering both of them as integral parts of a common space of Northeastern Eurasia. The author highlights several fundamental trends that crucially influence the situation in the region and which, among other factors, entail the strengthening of regional multipolarity by growing the independence of individual players, including Mongolia. According to the author, Pacific Russia and Mongolia can hardly find the worthy place in American or Japanese concepts of Free and Open Indo-Pacific, Chinese “belt and road” initiative or the Russian Greater Eurasia project. Being economically less developed parts of Eurasia, Mongolia and Pacific Russia are at the same time are the most politically stable segment and promising areas of the continent for the application of financial and human capital, intellectual resources and scientific and technological achievements, self-fulfillment of people and implementation of ideas. So they have to use their advantages to meet the challenges of their development.

Academic Diplomacy in Relations between Russia and Pacific Asia countries

Analysts usually consider only strategic, geopolitical, or economic aspects of Russia’s turn to the East. Humanitarian contacts and public diplomacy, including academic diplomacy, remain mainly on the periphery of research on the Asian vector of Russian foreign policy. Despite significant achievements in educational cooperation with non-Western countries during the Soviet period, after the end of the bipolar period, Russia turned to European academic diplomacy. To some extent, it helped Russia move forward in educational and research cooperation with the EU. However, it did not help remove all the stumbling blocks on Russia’s way to internationalize its education and science. Alongside interaction with Asia, which became home to many world-class universities by the 20th and 21st centuries, Russia’s cooperation with Europe has significantly lagged.Nevertheless, as the current situation demonstrates, a more proactive Russian academic and educational diplomacy in Asia is essential for successful economic cooperation and a comprehensive Russian presence in Asia. The paper, therefore, seeks to analyze the dynamics of Russian approaches to educational diplomacy, based on the qualitative and quantitative assessments to scrutinize the main trends of the higher education development in Asia and to define the current state and prospects of Russia’s educational cooperation with Pacific Asia. The paper argues that to be successful, Russia’s turn to the East must have a better-developed educational component, which considers the newest trends of higher education development at the international level. These steps are essential for keeping Russian education competitive and implementing Russian foreign policy in the current circumstances.

Two red macroalgae newly introduced into New Zealand: Pachymeniopsis lanceolata (K. Okamura) Y. Yamada ex S. Kawabata and Fushitsunagia catenata Filloramo et G. W. Saunders

Introductions of macroalgae are becoming more common with increased surveillance and the use of molecular tools to unequivocally identify invaders. We here report two non-indigenous macroalgal species newly confirmed to be present in New Zealand. Pachymeniopsis lanceolata is an irregularly divided foliose blade, first detected in Lyttleton Harbour/Whakaraupō, South Island but here also reported from the North Island. It has known introductions from its native range in Pacific Asia to the Mediterranean, Atlantic and the eastern Pacific. The introduced cox3 haplotype was also found in New Zealand, suggesting a secondary introduction from a previous introduced area, but we also found a novel haplotype in the North Island suggesting a case of multiple introductions. Fushitsunagia catenata, a recent segregate from Lomentaria, was also first detected in Whakaraupō and was initially identified as a species of Champia. RbcL data shows that it belongs to F. catenata. This species is also of Asian origin and has been known to have been introduced to Spain, Mexico, and Australia. We provide morphological and reproductive descriptions of the species in New Zealand. Continued surveillance, and follow up monitoring, are needed to track the expansion and effects of these macroalgae on native biotas.