Abstract

There are multiple pressures on the international order today, arising from ongoing military conflicts as well as continuing geostrategic contestation between the major powers. These have led to challenges for many countries around the world, as they seek to strengthen their security and deal with unstable energy and food supplies and continuing inflation. Amid these challenges, Indo-Pacific countries are committed to maintaining a stable regional order. This panel webinar will examine the impact of current geopolitical upheavals on the region and discuss how Indo-Pacific countries could expand their scope of cooperation to promote regional stability, including through ASEAN and ASEAN-led avenues. The event is co-organised by RSIS and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan.

About the Speakers

Ong Keng Yong is Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

Concurrently, he is Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore.  He is also Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Iran.  He is Singapore’s representative on the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Community Vision Post-2025.

At the same time, Ambassador Ong is Chairman of Humanity Matters, a non-profit humanitarian organisation based in Singapore, which is also focused on inter-faith understanding and volunteerism.

Ken Jimbo is a Professor of International Relations at Keio University and a Managing Director of Programs at the International House of Japan (IHJ/I-House).  He is concurrently an adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS).  He served as a Special Advisor to the Minister of Defense, Japan Ministry of Defense (2020) and Senior Advisor to the National Security Secretariat (2018-20).

His main research interests are in International Security, Japan-US Security Relations, and Japan’s Foreign and Defense Policy.  He has been a policy advisor for various Japanese governmental commissions and research groups, including the National Security Secretariat, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  His policy writings have appeared in RAND Corporation, NBR, Stimson Center, Pacific Forum CSIS, Japan Times, Nikkei, Yomiuri, Asahi and Sankei Shimbun.

Mely Caballero-Anthony is Professor of International Relations at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, and holds the President’s Chair for International Relations and Security Studies. She is also the Head of the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies and Associate Dean (External Engagement). Other key appointments include Adjunct Professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, and Member of the Advisory Board, NTU Academic Council.

Prof. Anthony’s research interests include regionalism and multilateralism in Asia-Pacific, human security and non-traditional security, nuclear security, conflict prevention and global governance. She has published extensively on a broad range of security issues in Asia-Pacific in peer-reviewed journals and international academic press. Her latest books, both single-authored and co-edited, include: Human Security and Empowerment in Asia: Beyond the Pandemic (London and New York: Routledge, 2024 ), Covid -19 and Atrocity Prevention in East Asia (London: Routledge 2022), Nuclear Governance in the Asia-Pacific (London: Routledge, 2022) and Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018).

Prof. Anthony has led a number of global and regional research projects on international security and global governance. She is currently the Lead of the research cluster on Biosecurity and International Security in the Effective Giving Multidisciplinary Project Grant in the establishment of Asian Centre for Health Security in Singapore. She has served as the Secretary-General of the Consortium on Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia since 2008 and is a member of the International Climate Security Expert Network. Prof Anthony is also member of the Global Health Diplomacy Institutional Network (2024 – present) and Adviser to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Human Security Research Institute’s project on Human Security (2019 – present). She was Vice President at-large of the Governing Council of the International Studies Association (ISA) and was member of the ISA’s Global South Task Force from 2018-2021.  From 2013-2017, Prof Anthony was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM) and served as its chairperson in 2016. She is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network on Nuclear Non-Proliferation (APLN).  She was Director of External Relations at the ASEAN Secretariat from 2011-2012.

Narushige Michishita is Executive Vice President and Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo and one of the directors of the YCAPS Japan. A specialist in Japanese security and foreign policy as well as security issues on the Korean Peninsula, he is the author of “The US Maritime Strategy in the Pacific during the Cold War,” in Conceptualizing Maritime and Naval Strategy: Festschrift for Peter M. Swartz, Captain (USN) retired (Nomos, 2020); Lessons of the Cold War in the Pacific: U.S. Maritime Strategy, Crisis Prevention, and Japan’s Role (Woodrow Wilson Center, 2016) (co-authored with Peter M. Swartz and David F. Winkler); and North Korea’s Military-Diplomatic Campaigns, 1966-2008 (Routledge, 2009). He acquired his Ph.D. with distinction from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.