RSIS-EWCW Conference on "Asia Matters: US-Indo Pacific Relations at the 13th Annual East Asia Summit"

When: Wednesday, November 14, 2018, 10:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Where: Marina Mandarin Singapore, Vanda Ballroom

The 13th Annual East Asia Summit (EAS) hosted by Singapore provides an opportunity to take stock of current US Indo Pacific relations. To kick off this event, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs W. Patrick Murphy delivered a keynote address on US relations with the Indo-Pacific at a critical time in the region. The keynote was followed by a discussion of the latest Asia Matters for America/America Matters for Asia report by Dr. Satu Limaye of the East-West Center in Washington and a panel discussion on commercial, diplomatic, and security elements of US-Indo Pacific relations. The newly updated booklet and corresponding state and Congressional district one-page connection summaries can be accessed and downloaded online at: AsiaMattersforAmerica.org.

10:30 AM: Welcome Remarks

• Professor Joseph Liow, Professor of Comparative and International Politics; Dean, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies; and Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

10:40 AM: Keynote Address

• USG Senior Official, W. Patrick Murphy, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs

10:50 AM: Presentation of Asia Matters for America and Website Demonstration

• Dr. Satu Limaye, Director, East-West Center in Washington

11:10 AM: Panel Discussion and Q&A Session: "Regional Security and the Role of the United States"

The United States continues to play a vital role in regional security through a variety of roles and activities such as forward deployed forces, alliances, and partnerships, diplomacy on key regional issues and economic development. At a time when there are important shifts in Indo-Pacific regional dynamics, what new contributions can the US make to the Indo-Pacific region?

• Associate Professor Ang Chen Guan, Head of Graduate Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (Moderator)

• Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore; Special Adviser, Institute of Policy Studies; and Chairman, Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore

• Ambassador Michael W. Michalak, Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director, US-ASEAN Business Council

• Ambassador Piper Campbell, Chargé d'Affaires, US Mission to ASEAN

12:10 - 1:00 PM: Lunch and Networking 
 

 For more images, please visit the album for this event on the East-West Center's Flickr page. 
 

Dr. Joseph Chinyong Liow is Dean of College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and concurrently, Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he is also Professor of Comparative and International Politics. He held the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asia Studies at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, where he was also a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program. Joseph's research interests encompass Muslim politics and social movements in Southeast Asia and the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Asia-Pacific region. Joseph is the author, co-author, or editor of 14 books. His most recent single-authored books are Ambivalent Engagement: The United States and Regional Security in Southeast Asia after the Cold War (Brookings, 2017), Religion and Nationalism in Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2016), and Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Southeast Asia, fourth edition (Routledge, 2014). A regular columnist for the Straits Times, his commentaries on international affairs have also appeared in New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Interest, Nikkei Asian Review, and the Wall Street Journal. He has testified to the United States Congress, and been invited to deliver a special closed door briefing to the ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting. In addition to scholarship and policy analysis, Joseph has also consulted for a wide range of MNCs including Shell, BHP Billiton, Chevron, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Total, and Statoil. He sits on the board of several peer-reviewed academic and policy journals and the expert panel of the Social Science Research Council (Singapore), and is Singapore's representative on the advisory board of the ASEAN Institute of Peace and Reconciliation formed under the auspices of the ASEAN Charter. Joseph Liow holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a MSc in Strategic Studies from the Nanyang Technological University, and a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Madison-Wisconsin.

Dr. Satu Limaye is Director of the East West Center in Washington where he created and now directs the Asia Matters for America initiative. He is the founding editor of the Asia Pacific Bulletin. He concurrently serves as Senior Advisor, Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) and Senior Fellow on Asia History and Policy at the Foreign Policy Institute at Paul H. Nitze School of International Studies (SAIS). He is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and received his doctorate from Oxford University (Magdalen College) where he was a George C. Marshall Scholar. Dr. Limaye serves as a consultant to the US government as well as numerous publications, foundations, and fellowship programs. His presentations and publications encompass the international relations of the Indo-Asia Pacific with a special focus on Japan, Southeast Asia, India, and maritime issues. Recent publications include Weighted West: The Indian Navy's New Maritime Strategy, Capabilities, and Diplomacy The Trump Administration and Southeast Asia, and Why ASEAN is Here to Stay and What That Means for the US. Previously, he was a Research Staff Member of the Strategy and Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and Director of Research and Publications at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), then a direct reporting unit to US Pacific Command. He also has been an Abe Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and a Henry Luce Scholar and Research Fellow at the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo.

Dr. Ang Chen Guan  is presently Head, Graduate Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. His previous positions include Head of Studies (Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies) and Head (Humanities and Social Studies Education, National Insitute of Education). He specializes in the international history of modern Asia, with a focus on Southeast Asia. He is the author of Vietnamese Communist Relations with China and the Second Indo-China Conflict, 1956-1962 (Jefferson: MacFarland, 1997, reprinted in paperback, 2012); The Vietnam War from the Other Side: The Vietnamese Communists' Perspective (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, paperback, 2006), its sequel, Ending the Vietnam War: The Vietnamese Communists' Perspective (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004, paperback, 2006); Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War (London: Routledge, 2010, hardback, paperback, and e-book); Lee Kuan Yew's Strategic Thought (London: Routledge, 2013, hardback, softback, and e-book); and Singapore, ASEAN and the Cambodia Conflict, 1979-1991 (Singapore, NUS Press, 2013). Most recently, he co-edited Perspectives on the Security in Singapore (Singapore: World Scientific and London: Imperial College Press, 2015), which includes a chapter on "Singapore's Conception of Security." He has published in edited volumes as well as in journals including Asian Survey, Journal of Contemporary History, War and Society, War in History, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Security Dialogue, Southeast Asia Research, Cold War History, Asian Security, and the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. He was a Gerald R. Ford Foundation Research Grant Award recipient (Fall 2005), Fulbright Singpoare Researcher award recipient (2006-2007), and a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Scholar (2006-2007). He is also a recipient of the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) and the National Institute of Education (NIE) Excellence in Teaching Commendation (2013). He was a member of the Resource Panel, Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence & Foreign Affairs (2002-2006).

Prof. Tommy Koh  is currently Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Special Adviser to the Institute of Policy Studies; and Chairman of the Governing Board of the Centre for Intenrational Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is the Chairman of the International Advisory Panel of the Asia Research Institute (NUS) and Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Master's Degree on Environmental Management (NUS). He is also the Co-chairman of the Asian Development Bank's Advisory Committee on Water and Sanitation. He is Rector of the Tembusu College, at NUS, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SymAsia Foundation of Credit Suisse. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Law at NUS, Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador to the United States of America, High Commissioner to Canada, and Ambassador to Mexico. He was President of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea and the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for and the Main Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development. He was the founding Chairman of the National Arts Council, founding Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation, and former Chairman of the National Heritage Board. He was also Singapore's Chief Negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreeement. He acted as Singapore's Agent in two legal disputes with Malaysia. He has chaired two dispute panels for the WTO. He is the Co-Chairman of the China-Singapore Forum and the Japan-Singapore Symposium. In 2006, Prof. Koh received the Champion of the Earth Award from UNEP and the inaugural President's Award for the Environment from Singapore. He was conferred with honorary doctoral degrees in Law by Yale and Monash Universities. Harvard University conferred on him the Great Negotiator Award in 2014.

Ambassador Michael W. Michalak joined the US-ASEAN Business Council in September 2015 as Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director. He oversees the Council's six offices in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from the Council's regional headquarters in Singapore, and leads the Council's regional advocacy efforts and engages regularly with key ASEAN policymakers and thought leaders toofffer his unique perspective on the key role US businesses can play in ASEAN. He also manages, coaches, and develops the Council's most critical resource: it's staff. Amb. Michalak most recently worked as an independent business consultant focused on Asia and particularly Vietnam. He also served as Senior Advisor to the private sector host committee of the US APEC Year (2011). His diplomatic career with the US State Department spanned more than 30 years and included postings to Tokyo, Japan; Sydney, Australia; Islamabad, Pakistan; Beijing, China; as wll as Washington, D.C. He served as US Ambassador to Vietnam from August 2007 to February 2011. Prior to his position in Vietnam, Amb. Michalak was Amabassador and Senior US Official to APEC. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Tokyo. In addition, he received a group award for valor for his actions in time of crises when the US Embassy in Islamabad was burned down. Amb. Michalak began his career as a research physicist at NASA. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and a Master of Science degree in Applied Physics from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He received a second Master's degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Havard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He speaks Japanese and Chinese.

Ambassador Piper Campbell joined the US Mission to ASEAN as Chargé d'Affaires, a.i., in June 2018. Ambassador Campbell previously served as Chief of Mission, US Embassy Ulaanbaatar from 2012-2015. Ambassador Campbell is a career member of the Foriegn Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, and has a long history of work in both the multilateral field and East Asia. In 2017-2018, Ambassador Campbell led an internal State Department effort to reform and improve its management and human resource systems and ran the Department's recruitment and examination of Foreign Service Officers, as well as other internship and Fellowship programs. She was an Assistant Professor for National Security Studies at the National War College from 2015 until 2017, designing a regional studies program and leading student groups to China and Indonesia. Before her nomination as US Ambassador to Mongolia, she was Consul General in Basrah, Iraq (2011-2012) and chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew and subsequently to Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides (2009-2011). ealier, she worked in the Philippines; provided support to the three US missions in Belgium (Embassy Brussels, USNATO, and USEU); and served in the State Department's Operations Center and Bureaur of International Organization Affairs. She worked on international security and humanitarian issues, with a focus on Asia, at the US Missions to the United Nation in both New York and Geneva and served as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She has been seconded at various times to the Department of Defense, the US Agency for International Development, and a United Nations peackeeping mission. Ambassador Campbell holds a Bachelor's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, with a certificate in Asian studies. She has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and an honorary MS in International Strategic Studies from the National War College. Her awards include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staf Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award and multiple Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State.