RSIS hosted a roundtable on 14 March 2023, with visitors from National Security College (NSC) of the Australian National University. Deputy Director of IDSS, Mr Adrian Tan; Professor Joseph Liow, Dean of College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at NTU and RSIS research adviser; Associate Professor Anit Mukherjee and deputy head of graduate studies; Assistant Professor Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit and Head of Centre for Multilateralism Studies; Jane Chan, senior fellow and Coordinator of the Maritime Security Programme; and Assistant Professor Xue Gong, deputy coordinator of MSc (International Political Economy) attended the roundtable.
Prof Joseph Liow began the roundtable with his opening remarks by mapping out three urgent major power relations in the Indo-Pacific: assessing the current Sino-US relations and the Taiwan question, domestic politics of the two major powers, and ideological contestation between the two powers. Prof Liow’s comments were followed by questions from NSC delegates with regards to the role of Singapore’s foreign policy, for instance, in the Russian-Ukraine war, Cross-strait relations, China’s coercive measures, South China Sea, and the role of ASEAN in maintaining regional peace and stability.
RSIS representatives also responded to questions on topics like technological competition, international rule-based order, and sovereignty vulnerability of host countries to China’s infrastructure financing. The roundtable ended with a consensus that in the face of international uncertainty, middle and small powers should play a more prominent role in the regional affairs.
