Gaston Sigur Memorial Lecture: The Future of American Policy Towards Southeast Asia
Our 2024 Gaston Sigur Memorial Lecturer is Amb. Bilahari Kausikan. Bilahari Kausikan is a Singaporean academic and retired diplomat. He was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the former ambassador to the UN and Russia. Bilahari is currently Chairman of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore.
Bilahari Kausikan joined the civil service in 1981. He was appointed as Singapore’s ambassador to the newly formed Russian Federation in 1994, and subsequently as ambassador to the United Nations (1995 - 1998). Bilahari was appointed Second Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001, and promoted to Permanent Secretary in 2010.The lecture analyzed broad trends in the US approach towards Southeast Asia and the drivers of these trends in the context of global and regional developments. These developments include, but are not confined to, US-China strategic competition. It will suggest that American policy towards Southeast Asia and the region’s responses may offer clues towards the development of the broader Indo-Pacific.
Learn more on our website: sigur.elliott.gwu.edu/2024/03...
Пікірлер: 11
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He repeats all the contemptuous tropes about China simply because he's English educated and doesn't understand Chinese. He's speaking to the right audience, and preaching to the choir.
@donaldjoseph3903
10 сағат бұрын
40 cents 😂😂😂
Great lecture.
This guy talked bs.
I assume Bilahari has been invited due in no small measure to his well known sinophobic view of China. Elsewhere, he still speaks of China's BRI as a debt trap when Bloomberg has already proclaimed it as a debunked myth. His assertion that China is converting minorities into Han is another. His off the cuff Q&A session is unnecessarily dismissive of Indonesia (in certain comments), Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Asean, not because he is brutally accurate but cynically unfounded. Is it surprising that, even by his own admission, he is now out of the government on pension? But this lecture is one of Bilahari's better ones. He reminds Americans that neutrality to SE Asian nations mean the ability to choose action selectively based on national interests. To be coerced to take side may be counter-productive. He has also made many other good points. It's not China that is militarising SCS but the US by adding more Philippines bases to the hundreds encircling China. As Bikahari pointed out, this region, across the Pacific Ocean, is not an existential threat to the US. But it is to China, surrounded by US military bases and threats of blockade of China's trade routes to the world. It would be great if US could take on a more diplomatic role in resolving conflicts with China. It's more urgent now than ever for US and China to cooperate rather than engage in a dangerous binary struggle. A strong US and strong China together is better for all.
@donaldjoseph3903
10 сағат бұрын
You are probably an admirer of Kishore.. 😂
I do agree that Singapore is the brain of ASEAN because of our ability to use agencies.
@richiesd1
9 сағат бұрын
Not really. Vietnam is the best.
One should see that Europe is an object to hurl at Russia. So what use could ASEAN be?
Bilhari keeps the Singapore flag flying. All credit to him and the country. Majulah Singapura