■Philosophy, guidelines and history
AFPLA (Asian Future Political Leaders Association) is the organisation that hosts an international conference among East Asian universities (University of Tokyo, Peking University, Fudan University, Seoul National University, National Taiwan University) every summer. The conference was established in 2007 by Peking University and Seoul National University, and since 2011, when the fourth conference was held, the University of Tokyo has officially joined the conference.
The conference covers not only politics, but also history, society, and other topics common to East Asia, and each university holds study sessions to prepare for the summer conference. The 2022 conference was held online, but there are plans to have face-to-face conference in Shanghai for the coming year (2023).
■Activities
Before COVID-19
The main activities are the main conference in August and the preparations for the conference from May to July.
During the preparation period, each division meets about once a week to conduct research and hold discussions in English, and a mid-term report meeting is held at Todai in June to report on progress. In June, they will hold an interim debriefing session within Todai to report on their progress, and at the main conference, students from the five universities will hold several sessions based on the research and discussions conducted by each university's division to shape the final discussions. There will also be opportunities for cross-university members to interact with each other during this conference. From the end of this conference to April of the following year, we will write the report of this conference, launch it, and those who want to be involved in the running of the conference will start preparing for next year's conference and for the next school year to welcome new students.
After COVID-19
Activities in 2020 "with-corona"
・June-September: study sessions
・September-October: Conference within University of Tokyo
・October-December: Event co-hosted by National Taiwan University
Activities in 2022
In 2022, the main conference was held online. However, the students of the University of Tokyo had face-to-face study sessions in each division and participated the conference together.
As events among the University of Tokyo members, interim presentation was held face-to-face in June. Members from each division gathered together and gave presentations about their progress. It was a great opportunity for members to incorporate opinions of members from other division and to get to know each other.
About the conference within University of Tokyo
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the main conference in the summer of 2020, which brings 5 universities together, was postponed. As an alternative, members of the University of Tokyo were divided into four groups (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan) and held a discussion (conference) in the form of a model United Nations. Study sessions leading up to the conference and the day of the conference were held entirely online. This was the first attempt in terms of both content and format, but as a first attempt, it was an activity that provided enough learning to replace the traditional activities.
About the event co-hosted by National Taiwan University
A shortened version of the main conference was held in the autumn on three separate occasions. It was the first time that we interacted with other universities online and in a full-scale activity in the autumn.
Future activities under the pandemic
Activities in 2021 will be carried out as in previous years, except that they will be mainly online. We hope to overcome the challenges of online activities by drawing on last year's experience. Although it is mainly online, we would like to hold face-to-face study sessions and the main conference at the Komaba campus if the environment permits. We are preparing to organize a preliminary exchange between the five universities in May and July before the main conference.
Those who wish to do so can participate in all activities full remote.
In the summer of 2022, the conference will be hosted by the University of Taiwan. All members are looking forward to the trip.