Malaysia has developed a reputation for hewing closely with the PRC on economic matters in recent years. Yet, it had been a big beneficiary of the de-risking and China plus One strategies undertaken by various companies from earlier rounds of the U.S.-PRC trade war by being able to tap on U.S. capital and access the U.S. market. Malaysia also ongoing territorial disputes with the PRC in the South China Sea and concerns about growing PRC domestic political influence. How does Malaysia seek to adjust among these concerns in an increasingly contested environment characterized?

Join host Ian Chong as he explores these issues with two experts from Malaysia. Khoo Ying Hooi is Associate Professor of International Relations at Universiti Malaya, with research expertise in human rights, democratization, and civil society in Southeast Asia. She engages in regional and international collaborations that connect academic research with policy and advocacy, and contributes to dialogues on rights and Southeast Asia’s role in broader global shifts. Shahriman Lockman is Director (Special Projects) at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia. His research includes Malaysian foreign and defense policies, Southeast Asian maritime security affairs, Malaysia-China relations, and South China Sea issues. He manages ISIS Malaysia’s China Engagement Initiative, which promotes Malaysia-China Track-Two dialogues.

Vietnam has long had to carefully calibrate its relationship with, China, its giant neighbor to the north. The two sides have a history of cultural and economic exchange as well as invasion and occupation going back to antiquity. Today, the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have similar political systems and successful economies. Hanoi nonetheless seeks to break out of a dependency relationship with Beijing, maintain its territorial claims, and assert its autonomy even as it looks to deepen economic cooperation.

Joining Carnegie China non-resident scholar Ian Chong to discuss these issues are Huong Le Thu, deputy director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group and Chair of Australia-Vietnam Policy Institute Advisory Board, and Nguyễn Khác Giang is visiting scholar with the Vietnam Studies Programme at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and previously head of the Political Research Unit at the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research in Hanoi.

In this episode, Ian Chong, a nonresident scholar with Carnegie China, discusses how Japan seeks to navigate its complex economic and security ties with the People’s Republic of China. Japan’s economy has become deeply integrated with that of the PRC over decades of globalization and cooperation remains important, but mounting concerns about coercion, pressure, and tension over regional territorial disputes are currently driving a more cautious Japanese approach.

Joining Ian are two specialists on Japan. Akira Igata is a project lecturer at the Economic Security Intelligence Lab, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. Ayumi Teraoka is a fellow with the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program and an incoming assistant professor at the Brandeis University.

What are China’s interests in Myanmar? In this episode, Dr. Ian Chong speaks with Dr. Moe Thuzar and Dr. Shona Loong on the role China is playing in the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. They also discuss how Beijing relates to the interested parties inside and outside of Myanmar, and the cyber crime industry that has significant implications on China-Myanmar relations.

Dr. Ian Chong is a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China, where he examines U.S.-China dynamics in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific. He is also an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

Dr. Moe Thuzar is a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute where she coordinates the Myanmar Studies Program.

Dr. Shona Loong is a senior scientist in political geography at the University of Zurich, and associate fellow with the Southeast Asian Politics and Foreign Policy program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

What role has China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) played in Southeast Asia so far? In this episode, Dr. Ian Chong holds an in-depth dialogue with Dr. Ngeow Chow Bing, another nonresident scholar at Carnegie China; and Muhammad Habib, a researcher at the Department of International Relations, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia. The three scholars discuss how the BRI has affected perceptions of China in Southeast Asia and the China-Southeast Asia relations.

Dr. Ian Chong is a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China, where he examines U.S.-China dynamics in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific. He is also an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

Dr. Ngeow Chow Bing is a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China. He focuses on China's relations with Southeast Asian countries.

Muhammad Habib is a researcher at the Department of International Relations, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia. His main research areas include international political economy, Indonesia-U.S. bilateral relations, and Indonesia-China bilateral relations.

What is the landscape of misinformation and disinformation in Southeast Asia, especially regarding the campaigns involving China? In this episode, Dr. Ian Chong hosts a conversation with Sutawan Chanprasert, founder of DigitalReach, and Ibrahim Suffian, director of Merdeka Center, on the disinformation campaigns observed in Southeast Asia, and how to address it.

Dr. Ian Chong is a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China, where he examines U.S.-China dynamics in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific. He is also an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

Sutawan Chanprasert is a founder of the Bangkok-based organization DigitalReach, which explores the impact of technology on human rights in Southeast Asia.

Ibrahim Suffian is the director of Merdeka Center, a public opinion polling and political surveys organization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.