Virtual Workshop: “ASEAN at the Crossroads: Fostering Collective Strengths for Addressing Regional Issues”

“ASEAN at the Crossroads: Fostering Collective Strengths for Addressing Regional Issues” 

Thursday, 10 June 2021, 08:30-11:40 (ICT) and Friday, 11 June 2021, 08:30-11:40 (ICT) via Zoom link 

Join us for a virtual workshop with experts and diplomats, representatives from think tanks, and local practitioners to dialogue on the recent developments in the Mekong region and in the South China Sea, and the Greater Mekong Subregion. Looking at the ‘ASEAN Way’, to leverage its member states for regional collaboration and possible ways forward on traditional and non-traditional security issues; harmony and peace among member states, migration, environmental challenges, ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and political crisis in Myanmar. This event is co-hosted by Stimson Center, The German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG), and the Mekong Environment Forum.

Agenda:

Thursday, 10 June 2021

08:30-09:00 am       Welcoming remarks 

James Borton, Co-founder of Mekong Environment Forum (MEF)

and a keynote address by Dr. Jennifer Turner, Director of the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum

09:00-10:20  Session1: The Mekong Matters for ASEAN: Prioritizing Areas of Actions at Regional Level

• Mekong Infrastructure development and implications for Insular ASEAN countries
• ASEAN between the US.-Mekong Partnership and China’s LMC
• Prioritizing the Mekong issues in ASEAN foreign policy

10:20-10:30 Q&A Session

10:30-11:40 Session 2: Regional Approach to Non-traditional Security Issues

• Regional cooperation strategies for health crisis management
• Migration in the Greater Mekong Sub-region
• Food, water, energy, and environmental challenges
• Citizen science as a ground-up approach for regional resilience

Friday, 11 June 2021

08:30-09:00 am       Welcoming remarks 

Brian Eyler, Welcome and provide  Day 1 takeaways

Dr. Duc Quang Ly, Program Manager, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG), as host, gave a welcoming speech

and a keynote address by Sourabh Gupta, Senior Fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington

09:00-10:20 Session 3: Strategic Development in the South China Sea Theater in the Times of Health Crisis

• China’s evolving “grey zone” tactics in the South China Sea
• The impacts of a global health crisis on response strategies of claimants and external powers
• COC negotiations: progress and challenges

10:20-10:30 Q&A Session

10:30-11:40 Session 4: Building Cooperative Solutions for the Peaceful South China Sea

• The need for rules-based solutions
• Reconsidering the ASEAN Way in the face of new security challenges
• Science diplomacy in the South China Sea