Four Eastern professors used their heritage or experiences to exchange different views on socioeconomic issues in Asia, with a focus on East Asia, China, India and the Middle East on Wednesday.

Marko Grunhagen, a business professor, spoke about issues affecting China in his presentation titled “Socioeconomic Challenges in China (incl. Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan).”

China is the second largest economy in the world, and Grunhagen said its gross domestic product has grown significantly in past years.

“From 2000, so the last 12 years, the United States GDP has gone up 50 percent, while the Chinese GDP has quadrupled, so about 400 percent,” Grunhagen said.

He said despite China having a big economy, they have tensions and policies that have caused some problems.

“There are big discrepancies between rich and poor, east and west, rural and urban,” he said.

He said the one-child policy that regulates the number of children has caused some problems, and there are fewer people who can take over the workforce.

Grunhagen said the population causes problems within the workforce.

“China graduates about 7 million graduates each year,” Grunhagen said. “That is 7 million college-aged people out into the workforce trying to find jobs.”

He said China has put in place a system where people register where they live. The system is called the Hukou system.

Grunhagen said this cause people to essentially be illegal when they move from where they originally register.

These people are not supposed to be employed or be able to send their children to school.

Jinhee Lee, a history professor, presented “Sources of Tension in East Asia: History, Territory, and the Legacies of the Cold War.”

Lee said East Asia is a crowded place with high populations of people.

“The population of the different parts of Asia is about half of the world’s population,” Lee said.

Lee said East Asia is made up of many countries including China, Japan, North Korea and South Korea, among other areas that are being disputed for power.

“East Asia is bigger than the combination of all European countries,” Lee said.

Lee said there are tensions within different countries and between countries over economic issues, territory and names.

“There are many disputes among these East Asian countries, not only over the lands, but also over the seas,” Lee said.

One example Lee gave of a dispute over control was with the islands between China, Taiwan and Japan.

Another example of a tension is between Japan and Korea over the name of the sea between them.

Lee said some tensions in East Asia are related to the population and resources.

“There are 300 million people who still have bad water,” Lee said.

Mukti Upadhyay, an economic professor, presented “Prospects and Challenges in India’s Economic Growth”

Upadhyay said India has more than 350 languages among the populations and also has a wide number of political parties.

He said since its independence, there are national and regional parties, and it is hard to balance them.

Upadhyay said part of the reason India has not grown so much is because there is no infrastructure.

“One of the reason the economic growth is so slow is because the government has not been able to invest in infrastructure, roads and other things,” Upadhyay said.

He also said health and education is also an issue in India.

Ahmed Abou-Zaid, an economics professor, presented “Economic Prospects in the Middle East in Light of Recent Events.”

Abou-Zaid said it is difficult to discuss economics in the Middle East because the 27 different countries have many different economic statuses.

He said some countries are rich in oil and natural gas and thrive from the increase in oil prices, while others are starving.

He said there has been a history of corrupt governments in the Middle East.

Abou-Zaid said some economic growth has been seen with these different corruptions.

Each professor gave a presentation about their topic before allowing questions from the audience.

Heather Jia, a business professor, said she was happy with the diverse panelists who brought different opinions and gave different views to the students.

“Charleston and the students that come here often are from the state of Illinois and do not have a lot of exposure to international experience,” Jia said.

Heewon Shin, a senior communication studies major, said even though she is Asian, she learned a lot from the panel.

“It’s good for American students to know about Asian countries and what issues are going on there,” Shin said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].