SEAC hosted this event considering the impact of China's Belt and Road initiative on Southeast Asia. The discussion focused on themes from the recently published book China’s Belt and Road Initiative The Impact on Sub-regional Southeast Asia edited By Christian Ploberger, Soavapa Ngampramuan, Tao Song. Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak was a discussant and the talk was chaired by Prof. Hyun Bang Shin.
This book evaluates China’s relations with sub-regional Southeast Asia through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework. The book looks at domestic drivers and regional receptivity of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and also delves into the challenges of China’s engagement in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. It examines how China’s BRI will contribute to the development of these countries, to regional economic integration and cooperation processes within a political-economic context. It addresses the BRI process within the GMS on three levels: regional, individual recipient countries and the Chinese perspective.
The book can be found here.
A video recording of the event is available here.
Regionalisation, regionalism and sub-regional integration processes: the Mekong River Basin and BRI
Christian Ploberger (Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-OK, Bangkok, Thailand)
Thailand’s 4.0 development strategy in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative
Soavapa Ngampramuan (Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand)
Yunnan, the nexus hub between China and Southeast Asia, in the context of BRI
Tao Song (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China)
Speakers and Chair Biographies:
Dr Christian Ploberger is Lecturer at the Chakrabongse Bhuvanarth International Institute for International Studies and Co-editor of its Journal (same name), at Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-OK, Bangkok. He teaches International Relations and Security Studies with a specific focus on East Asia and Climate Change related risks. He also has a specific interest in international river basins, like the Mekong region. He is the author of a number of academic articles and books with a focus on BRI, Chinese politics, sub-regional integration and environmental/climate change related challenges.
Dr Soavapa Ngampramuan is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand. She is a lecturer in International Relations, International Political Economy and regional organisations with a particular focus on ASEAN and comparative ASEAN - EU studies for undergraduate and post-graduate courses. She is also a research fellow at the School of International Politics and Economics and Communication, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan.
Dr Tao Song is Associate Professor at the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. He has an established record of Belt and Road Initiative related research projects undertaken for the Chinese government and various development partners.
Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak (@ThitinanP) is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS) and Associate Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. He has held visiting positions at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Stanford University, Yangon University, Victoria University in New Zealand, and University of Tubingen in Germany, and currently serves on several editorial boards of leading academic journals. In May 2019, he was selected as Australia-ASEAN Fellow based at Sydney’s Lowy Institute.
Prof. Hyun Bang Shin (@urbancommune) is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science and directs the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre. His research centres on the critical analysis of the political economy of speculative urbanisation, gentrification and displacement, urban spectacles, and urbanism with particular attention to Asian cities. His books include Planetary Gentrification (Polity, 2016), Neoliberal Urbanism, Contested Cities and Housing in Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Exporting Urban Korea? Reconsidering the Korean Urban Development Experience (Routledge, 2021), and The Political Economy of Mega Projects in Asia: Globalization and Urban Transformation (Routledge, forthcoming). He is Editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and is also a trustee of the Urban Studies Foundation.