Abstract

The decrease in cross-border movement has been one immediate impact of COVID-19, hitting some sectors hard while boosting others. This gives rise to new fundamental questions about the future of multilateralism and trade. This panel will explore questions such as: Has the COVID-19 pandemic harmed Southeast Asian regionalism and ASEAN centrality or showed once more the value of institutionalised regional cooperation? How has COVID-19 impacted the geo-economics in the Indo-Pacific, and what has been its impact on specific initiatives, such as the BRI? How has the pandemic and rising competition changed regional trade, economic cooperation and interdependence?

The panellists will present on the following topics:
1. ” The Impact of COVID-19 on ASEAN and ASEAN-led Regional Institutions” by Dr Alica Kizekova
2. ” The Impact of COVID-19 on Regional Geo-Economics and The BRI” by Ms Alyssa Leng
3. ” The Future of Regional Trade in a Post-Pandemic World” by Dr Lee Su-Hyun

About the Speaker

Alica Kizeková is a Head of Asia Pacific Unit and a Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague in the Czech Republic and a Guest Lecturer and a Researcher at the Faculty of Society and Design at Bond University in Queensland in Australia. Previously, she was an Adviser to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament in Prague and a Head of Department of Asian Studies at Metropolitan University Prague. Her research interests include Regionalism, Global Governance, Democratisation, Russian and Chinese regional politics, Central Europe, Australia’s identity and foreign policy, security and great power relations in the Greater Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific. She is the author of Soft Balancing in the Indo-Asia-Pacific: from ASEAN to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Routledge, forthcoming).

Alyssa Leng is a Research Associate in the Power and Diplomacy program at the Lowy Institute. Before joining the Institute, Alyssa worked on Australia’s economic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic and infrastructure policy at the Australian Treasury. She has also worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia and holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney. Alyssa’s research interests include geo-economics as well as economic growth and development, particularly in Southeast Asia. She is one of the principal researchers behind the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, a data-driven project which maps the changing distribution of power in the region.

Su-Hyun Lee is an Assistant Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research interests lie in the fields of international and comparative political economy with particular focus on the domestic politics of foreign economic policy making. Her dissertation examined the effects of partisan and electoral incentives of representative policymakers on the allocation of protectionist rents across domestic constituencies in the United States, including a cross-national study on the structure of trade protection in 52 countries. Her current research projects include comparative studies examining how global economic integration and institutions interactively affect trade politics and policy outcomes, (re)distributive politics, and political parties/party systems across countries.