Board of Trustees Felipe B. Miranda Chairperson (politicaIScience) .Nestor N. Pilar Vice-Chairperson (Public Adrninistration) Carmelita N. Ericta Treasurer (Statistics) Members NestorT.Castro ElenaLSamonte (Anthropology) (Psychology) JaimeL.Ca~atoy StellaP.Go (Communication) (Sociology) ZeldaC.Zablan AonabelleeC.Singzoo (Demography) (Social Work) FelipeM.MedaIla EduardoT.Gonzalez (Econotnics) (Associate Members) Meliton B. Juanico AuroraE. Perez (Geography) (Associate Members) OscarLL Evangelista JoseN.Eodriga (History) Ex-officio EdilbertaC.Bala Virginia A. Miralao (Linguistics) Secretary Editorial e are pleased to feature in this issue four articles contributed by colleagues to Social Science Information in the last quarter of 1997. Two are complementary articles on WASEAN-China Relations. The first of these, Dr. Lu Jianren's "At the Turn of the Century: China's Foreign Strategy Toward ASEAN:' tackles ASEAN-Chinese relations from China's perspective; while the other prepared by Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino, Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs and titled "The Relations between the ASEAN and China: Converging and Diverging Interests" discusses ASEAN's own views and evolving foreign relations strategies towards China. Both papers were presented at separate lectures sponsored by the Philippine-China Development Resource Center (PCDRC-for Dr. Lu'slecture) and the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS-for Undersecretary Severino's lecture): Both PCDRC and PACS are PSSC Associate Members. Dr. Lu who is a Professor and Assistant Director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences visited the Philippines earlier as an exchange scholar of PSSC, while his most recent visit in December 1997 was on the invitation ofPCDRC. The symposium on China and her relations with ASEAN which featured Undersecretary Severino's paper and held on 13 November 1997 was PACS' contribution to the PSSC Lecture Series Program. The third article was also prepared for a lecture by Dr. Walden Bello on the largely unforeseen currency crisis that hit Southeast Asian countries in July 1997. He argues in his article, "Needed: A Strategy to Seriously Address the Financial Crisis," that the crisis owes to the model of development embraced by Asian countries in recent decades but which made their economies too dependent on huge infusions of foreign capital. To reverse the currency crisis, Dr. Bello proposes more emphasis on the development of domestic economies, particularly agriculture and local manufacturing. Dr. Bello is Professor of Sociology and Public Administration at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, and Co-Director of Focus on the Global South based at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. The fourth article was contributed by Dr. Michael A. Costello and is similarly based on a lecture delivered by him at a Conference on MultidisciplinaryResearch in Region X. Dr. Costello's article titled "Look Before YouLeap: Some Reflections on Hypothesis Formulation in the Social Sciences" reviews the processes entailed in hypothesis-formulation which appear to have been reduced over time to rather "mechanistic" steps or procedures. To counter this tendency, Dr. Costello proposes useful guidelines for identifying research problems and for constructing thoughtful and appropriate research hypothesis/hypotheses. Dr. Costello gave this article to Social Science Information in late 1997 and we deeply regret that this issue is being released only after his untimely passing on 2 February 1998. Dr. Costello leaves behind him many fruitful years of teaching and advising students and of furthering social science research both nationally • and in Mindanao. He was Professor of Sociology and Demography at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. From 1992 to 1996, he served as Director of the University's Research Institute for Mindanao Culture (RIMCU), also an Associate Member of PSSC. Even when heavily loaded with his own teaching and research assignments, Dr. Costello conscientiously contributed his time to furthering social science organizations. He was an active member of both the Philippine Population Association (PPA) and the Philippine Sociological Society (PSS) ~~;~~~ s:~:~ i~o~l:;;: ~?cta~:re~~~t various times. In bidding him farewell, we also give our .f,i This issue also carries the organizational profiles offour PSSC Associate Members, namely the American Studies Association of the Philippines (ASAP), Philippine Association of Chinese Studies (PA.CS), and U.P. School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) based in Metro Manila; and the Peter Gowing Memorial Research Center in Marawi City. To update the annotation of graduate theses/dissertations completed with assistance from PSSC'sResearch AwardProgram, the abstracts of S9 theses/dissertations successfully defended between 1990 to 1997 are also included in this issue. We hope that these abstracts will serve as useful reference to students and scholars engaged in Philippine studies. Cl 4 Vol. 25 No. 2 July-December 1997 ..t. CONTENTS 1I~~~~l~l~ili~1 Lu Jianren At the Thrn of the Century: China's Foreign Strategy Toward RodolfoSeverino,Jr. The Relations between the ASEAN and China: Converging and Diverging Interests 16 • WaldenBello Needed: A Strategy to Seriously Address the Financial Crisis 21 • MichaelA. Costello Look Before You Leap: Some Reflections OnHypothesis Formulation in the Social Sciences 26 American Studies Association of the Philippines 37 38 • Philippine Association for Chinese Studies 39 • Schoolof Urban and Regional Planning-U.P. Dillman 41 PSSC Nominees Win Social Science Awards 43 • Annual Conferences ofPSSC 44 • Regional Social Science Conferences 45 • Development of General Education Courses in the Social Sciences 45 • Announcements of Forthcoming Events 46 47 50 THEPSSC SOCIALSCIENCEINFORMATION The PSSC Social Science Information is published twice a year by the Secretarist, Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC), with offices at PSSCenter, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, U.P. Post Office Box 205, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines. The PSSC Social Science Information primarily seeks to serve as a clearing house for the exchange of information, documentation, research activities, and news on people involved in the social sciences. Since 1973,ithaaendeavoredto be a regular and comprehensive inventoryofinformation and acstalyatof discussions. The viewscxpressed by the authors of articles in thispubJication do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Philippine Social Science Council. Editorial VirginiaA. Miralao, Lorna P. Makil, Elvira S. Angeles, Faith Anemone O. Estrella Circulatfon: Milagros J. Tolentino,Ernesto S. Acosta Proper acknowledgementshould be given to quotes taken from this publication. I~ AttheTumof the Century: China's Foreign Strategy Toward ASEAN· Lu Uanren LTheStarting and FocalPointof China's high per capita GNP are genuine economic ForeignStrategy powers, as for example the G-7 members. Therefore, a one-sided conclusion will be th The 20 century is coming to an end, and drawn from China's economic scale when the first light of the new century has appeared disregarding its per capita GNP. In terms of at tlhe horizon. At the turn of this century, gross economic scale, China might be ranked China's rise has attracted worldwide attention. among the economic powers; but calculated by World media reports, related articles and the composite indices, China is not an specialized works on China might fill a house economic power. Seventy percent of China's to the rafters. Different countries observe the population, are still rural residents; its rise of this giant eastern dragon with different industrialization and modernization are yet to psychology. Some international economic be accomplished; 60 million Chinese still live institutions overestimate China's economic in poverty; and despite the largely raised living development, saying China has 'surpassed standard, China still lags behind developed Japan in economic scale and will surpass the countries. Hence, before China genuinely U.S. in the 21st century. On this account, some becomes one of the world's economic powers, people spread the theory of a "China threat" it stillhas at least half a century or even a whole with ulterior motives, describing China as a century to go. threatening element to the Asia-Pacific and to world security. At the 15th Communist Party of China (CPC) Congress convened not long ago, The fact is that China is far from being an General Secretary Jiang Zemin estimated in his economic power. Although since the beginning speech that, only when modernization is of reform in the early 1980s, fast economic realized in the mid-Zl" century, i.e., the 100th development, and lasting high growth through anniversary of the founding of the People's the 1990s has elevated China's ranking in the Republic of China (2049), will China become world, its per capita GNP remains low. In a prosperous, strong, democratic and culturally 1996, China's GNP was RMB 6,770 billion advanced country,' He also clarified that China yuan, or US$825.6 billion; but divided by 1.2 is still in the primary stage of socialism and billion people, it has only US$688 for every this stage usually lasts at least one hundred person, ranking China near the end of nations. years, which is just the time China needs to The economic scale of a nation is only a get rid of its under-developed situation and reflection of the quantity ofits production and bring modernization into