The Asia Chessboard

Mike and Jude are joined by Demetri Sevastopulo, US-China Correspondent at the Financial Times. Demetri discusses covering China as a member of the news media and of what it takes to break news on China in a competitive market. Jude, Mike, and Demetri then exchange views on US-China relations today, including recent bilateral diplomacy and evolving cross-Strait dynamics. Next, they turn to debate...

Mike is joined by Lisa Curtis, Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. The conversation begins with a review of the contemporary and historical factors encouraging India and the United States to expand their partnership. Next, they examined the remaining hurdles for the relationship, including the recent Sikh assassination plots. T...

Mike is joined by Dr. John Kunkel, Senior Economics Adviser at the United States Studies Centre. Dr. Kunkel has worked as an economist, speech writer, policy analyst, and adviser to government and industry executive and previously served as Chief of Staff to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He has a PhD in Economics from the Australian National University and is the author of "America's T...

Mike is joined by Dr. Joseph Chinyong Liow, the Tan Kah Kee Chair of Comparative and International Politics at Nanyang Technological University, where he is also a Research Advisor for the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.  The conversation begins with a review of the state of U.S.-China strategic competition in the aftermath of APEC 2023, and underscores regional discontent with the...

Mike and Jude are joined by Evan Medeiros, Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies and the Cling Family Senior Fellow in US-China Relations at Georgetown University. He is also a Senior Advisor with The Asia Group and previously served for six years on the staff of the National Security Council as Director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia - and then as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Dire...

Mike and Jude are joined by Sergey Radchenko, the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Sergey is an accomplished author, and has written extensively on the Cold War, nuclear history, and on Russian and Chinese foreign and security policies.  The conversation begins by delving into the nature of Beijing’s ties with Moscow, and how...

Mike and Jude are joined by Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group. She is also an Adjunct Fellow with the Southeast Asia Program at CSIS and a former senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Her research on Vietnam’s defense and foreign policy, Southeast Asia’s security, ASEAN regionalism, and China-Southeast Asia relations has featu...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Mr. Tatsuya Terazawa, Chairman and CEO of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. Previously he served as the Senior Advisor of the Cabinet Office of Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura. Earlier he served at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan where he held leading positions including the Vice-Minister for International Affairs. He is also...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Erin Murphy, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow for the Economics Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she is currently transitioning to the Asia Program. Erin's career has so far spanned public and private sector roles, including as an analyst on Asian political and foreign policy issues at the Central Intelligence Agenc...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by C. Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow with the Asia Society Policy Institute in Delhi and Visiting Research Professor and former Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore. Mohan was the founding director of Carnegie India in Delhi – the sixth international center of Carnegie Endowment for Peace, and has previously...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Thomas Parks, Country Representative for Thailand with The Asia Foundation and author of the recently published book Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future: Averting a New Cold War. They begin with an overview of Southeast Asia’s experience during and following the Cold War and discuss the region’s desire to avoid a re-division into blocs. They explore how region...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Mr. Choi Shing Kwok, Director & Chief Executive Officer of the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, and head of the ASEAN Studies Centre and Singapore APEC Study Centre, to discuss ASEAN perspectives on issues in the Indo-Pacific.  The conversation first examines ASEAN’s current structure, organizational challenges, and the diversity of its individual members. They...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Professor Peter Dean, Director of Foreign Policy and Defense at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, and the principal drafter of the Australian government’s recent Defence Strategic Review, to discuss developments in Australia’s defense planning.   The conversation begins with a discussion of the Defence Strategic Review and the sign...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Dr. Susan Shirk, Founding Chair of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California, San Diego and the author of Overreach: How China Derailed its Peaceful Rise (Oxford University Press, 2022), which examines the evolution of China’s domestic and foreign policy over the last 15 years.  The conversation begins by examining steps taken toward polit...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Scott Morrison, former Australian Prime Minister and leader of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party from 2018-2022.  The conversation begins by assessing developments in China-Australia relations during Morrison’s time in office, delving into the various equities at play and domestic debates that unfolded as the government reevaluated the links between eco...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Paul Haenle, Maurice R. Greenberg Director’s Chair of Carnegie China and former China director for the National Security Council staffs of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Faryar Shirzad, who served in the Bush administration with Paul as deputy national security advisor for International Economic affairs and is now Chief Policy Office at Coinb...

On July 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Sue Mi Terry with violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment alleges activities that took place, in part, during a period in which Ms. Terry was employed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSIS is not a party to this litigation and takes the allegations seriously. CSIS mainta...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Kurt M. Campbell, Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs in the National Security Council, and Mira Rapp-Hooper, Senior Adviser on China at the U.S. Department of State's Policy Planning Staff.  They begin by discussing educational and professional experiences that build the groundwork for successful careers in international relations.  They then discuss the re...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Emily Kilcrease, director of the Energy, Economics, and Security program at CNAS, who formerly served as deputy assistant U.S. trade representative and National Security Council director for international trade, investment, and development. They begin by examining the limits of U.S. leverage over semiconductor supply chains and how existing advantages are mai...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Christopher B. Johnstone, former National Security Council director for Asia under President Biden and director for Japan and Oceanian affairs under President Obama who now serves as senior adviser and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). They begin with a look at what Japan’s new national security strategy means for its r...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Bilahari Kausikan, Chairman of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, and former Ambassador-at-Large and former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore. They start off the discussion with a look into Singapore’s history and how it has shaped its foreign policy outlook. Next, they discuss the effectivenes...

This week, Mike and Jude sit down with Pete Connolly, a retired officer in the Australian Defence Force and Adjunct Fellow with the Asia Program at CSIS, to discuss Chinese statecraft in the Pacific Islands. They start by unpacking China’s strategic interests in Melanesia and the Pacific Islands more broadly, and what its involvement in the region means for the U.S., Australia, and other allies an...

In this episode of the Asia Chessboard, Mike and Jude are joined by Dr. Gorana Grgic, a jointly appointed Senior Lecturer at the Department of Government and International Relations and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, to discuss the recently released U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Defense Strategy (NDS). They start off the discussion by highlightin...

This week, Mike and Jude are joined by Manjari Chatterjee Miller, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), to take a deep look into India’s evolving partnerships and its position in the global system. They start by discussing India’s role in the Quad and how it has shifted in recent years. They then unpack India’s broader cooperative efforts with...

This week, Mike and Jude sit down with Bates Gill, Head of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, to discuss his recent book, Daring to Struggle: China's Global Ambitions Under Xi Jinping. They begin by discussing Gill’s career trajectory and key themes that emerge from the book. They then dive deeper into China’s trajectory under Xi Jinping’s leadership, focus...