Abstract

This RSIS Distinguished Public Dialogue will examine the dynamics of great-power relations at this perilous juncture in world affairs. The discussion will focus on two particularly momentous sets of issues: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (and the US-European-Western and broader international response); and US-China relations (including the impact of the 20th Party Congress in Beijing and the Biden-Xi summit). What are the top issues and potential crises that might develop in 2023? What are the longer-term challenges and dangers for the remainder of the 2020s?

About the Speakers

Bates Gill is Executive Director of Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. Prior to joining the Asia Society, Bates held a number of research and academic leadership positions in the Indo-Pacific, Europe and United States. Most recently, he was professor and chair of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Sydney and was also the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence with the Asia Society Australia. In other previous roles, he served as director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), as the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and as founding director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

Among his other professional affiliations, Bates serves on the Board of Governors of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and on the Board of Advisors of the National Bureau of Asian Research.

The author or editor of nine books on China- and Asia-related topics, his most recent book, Daring to Struggle: China’s Global Ambitions under Xi Jinping, was published in 2022 by Oxford University Press. He received his Ph.D. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia, lived and worked in China for two years, and has made more than 60 working visits to the country. Bates received the Royal Order of the Commander of the Polar Star, the highest award bestowed up foreigners by the Swedish monarch, for his contributions to Swedish interests.

Bhubhindar Singh is Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Faculty Fellow at the NTU-University Scholars Programme (USP), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

At RSIS, Bhubhindar is the Associate Dean (Academic Affairs) and Head of Graduate Studies.

Before joining NTU, Bhubhindar was a Sasakawa Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Award, and has held visiting positions at George Washington University, University of Tokyo, Chuo University (Japan), and National Institute of Defense Studies (NIDS, Japan).

Bhubhindar’s main research area is in the international relations of Northeast Asia with a special focus on Japan’s security policy. His secondary research areas are international relations of Southeast Asia and sources of peace and peaceful change in East Asia.

Bhubhindar has published in the European Journal of International Relations, International Relations of Asia-Pacific, The Pacific Review, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Asian Survey, Asian Security, Asia Policy, Japanese Journal of Political Science, Asian Affairs: An American Review, Korean Journal of Defense Analyses, The Round Table, Contemporary Southeast Asia and Issues & Studies; and his books are Japanese Security Identity Transformation: From a Peace-State to an International-State (Routledge 2013) and Reconstructing Japan’s Security Policy: The Role of Military Crises (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

Bhubhindar holds a PhD in East Asian Studies from the University of Sheffield, UK, a MSc in Strategic Studies from the Nanyang Technological University, and a BA (Hons) in English Language from the National University of Singapore.