Abstract

The US-China relationship is probably the most important bilateral diplomatic relationship in the world. From a policy of “engagement” with China first begun by President Nixon in 1972, the United States now sees China as a “peer competitor”. In a recent statement, Biden stressed that although the US is not looking for conflict with China, it will “compete vigorously” with China.

A key dimension of the US’ global competition with China over the coming decades will be tech and economic focused in nature, especially the struggle for the leadership of core emerging technologies with national security implications like AI, semiconductors, and 5G. To maintain their technological lead, export bans, scrutiny of supply chains, and “friend-shoring” look like dominant themes of this tech competition in the coming decades. For instance, China recently banned the exports of core solar panel technologies to maintain its technological lead and market share in this sector.

Will this US-China tech competition affect Southeast Asia countries? To what extent will Southeast Asian countries need to adapt their foreign and economic policies to mitigate the effects of the tech competition and the broader geopolitical rivalry between the US and China? This webinar brings together experts and policymakers from Indonesia and Vietnam to assess the effects of this rivalry on their respective countries. In doing so, the goal will be to draw comparisons of the approaches taken by both Southeast Asian countries, assess the effectiveness of current approaches, and facilitate discussions on this important topic.

About the Speakers

Dinh Tuan Minh is currently the Research Director of Market Solutions Research Center for Social and Economic Issues (MASSEI) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Mr. Minh is known in Vietnam as one of the passionate supporters, promoting the development of a free market economy in Vietnam. He is the (co-ed) editor of a number of recent valuable books such as: Marketization of public service provision in Vietnam (2018), From the Commanding State to a Developmental State (2016), Vietnam Market Economy Development Report 2014 (2015), Vietnam Economy: From Demand side Stabilization Policies to Supply-side Policies to Sustain Long-term Economic Growth (2013). He also contributed several book chapters to annual economic reports chaired by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), National Economics University.

Mr. Dinh Tuan Minh has worked, is a member, or a collaborator at Policy Advisory Group of the Ministry of Finance, Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), Macro Policy Advisory Group of the Economic Committee of National Assembly, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies.

Mr. Dinh Tuan Minh graduated from Hanoi University of Science and Technology (1996), graduated with a master’s degree from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) (Bangkok, Thailand), and he joined the PhD program in the economics of technical change at UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University (Netherlands).

Tran Ngoc Ca is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies. Professor Tran previously served as the head of the Science and Technology Office for the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington DC. He is a distinguished academic with a PhD in the economics of innovation and a Fullbright scholar with numerous publications in both English and Vietnamese. He is the author of the book “Technological Capability and Learning in Firms: Vietnamese Industries in Transition.” He has previously served as a member of multiple science and technology advisory bodies and has conducted numerous consulting projects for international organizations like World Bank, UNDP, UNIDO, UNESCO, SIA, IDRC, ADB, OECD.

Luky A. Yusgiantoro is a member of the Governing Board of Purnomo Yusgiantoro Center (PYC). He has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector. He received his B.Sc in Engineering Science (spc. Environmental Engineering) from Colorado State University, USA. He continued having his two Masters from the joint program of CSM and Institut Francais du Petrole, France. He has his Ph.D in Energy Economics from Colorado School of Mines (CSM), USA, in 2010. Luky has been involved in various energy research with versatile methodologies conducted by Indonesian government agencies and private sectors, and also is actively invited as a speaker in many seminars. He has been teaching economics classes for undergraduate and graduate programs at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, since 2014. In addition, he established Planet Inovasi – another non-profit organization focusing on entrepreneurship. He is currently the Division Head of Project Management and Maintenance Facility of SKK Migas – the government body that manages upstream oil and gas business activities. He has been involved in geothermal, gas pipeline and upstream oil and gas projects since 2000.

Trissia Wijaya is heading Economic Opportunities Research Unit at the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS). Over the past few years, she has worked with multinational agencies including United Nations Development Programme and the Asian Development Bank and helped to inform technical expertise, programming, and policy. She is a political economist with specialist expertise in developing inclusive and gender-sensitive infrastructure policy and designing programs for women’s empowerment in R&D and startups. She has also published several papers in leading academic journals and policy outlets dealing with issues related to green development, infrastructure financing, and Chinese and Japanese investments in Southeast Asia.

Trissia holds a doctorate degree in Politics and International Studies from Murdoch University, Australia and a master’s degree in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan.

Sulfikar Amir is an Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and a faculty member in Sociology Programme at the School of Social Sciences NTU. His research interests primarily focus on examining institutional, political, and epistemological dimensions of scientific knowledge and technological systems. He has conducted research on technological nationalism, development and globalisation, nuclear politics, risk and disaster, design studies, city and infrastructure, and resilience.

Sulfikar Amir is the author of “The Technological State in Indonesia: the Co-constitution of High Technology and Authoritarian Politics” (Routledge, 2012), and the editor of “The Sociotechnical Constitution of Resilience: A New Perspective on Governing Risk and Disaster” (Palgrave, 2018). Using the concept of sociotechnical resilience which he has developed to examine the capacity of sociotechnical systems for responding to disruption and crisis, Sulfikar Amir is currently working on a number of research projects that look into the resilient nature of urban-situated sociotechnical systems. These includes a series of risk perception surveys and mitigation on the Covid-19 pandemic.