Southeast Asia between China and the United States

Date: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Time: 16:00-17:00
Venue: MY401, Murphy Building VUW (map to the venue)

Abstract

Southeast Asia’s strategic significance is set to rise along with U.S.-China tensions. The region stands at the centre of two overlapping, but increasingly competitive, spheres of economic and strategic influence. Southeast Asia is enmeshed in complex production networks that create a Sino-centric economic region spanning much of East Asia. At the same time, Southeast Asian foreign policy elites have been comfortable with a regional security order underpinned by U.S. commitments and military capacity. This talk will discuss the region’s exposure to spillovers from increased rivalry between the United States and China. It will also look at the ways Southeast Asian consumers, investors and policymakers influence the strategic landscape.

About the Speaker

Natasha Hamilton-Hart is Professor in the Department of Management and International Business. She has a BA(Hons) from the University of Otago and a PhD from Cornell University. Natasha joined the University of Auckland in 2011, after teaching at the National University of Singapore for ten years and holding a postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian National University.

Natasha’s research focuses on business in Southeast Asia, particularly in the banking and natural resource sectors, as well as on foreign investment flows and financial regulation. She is the author of Asian States, Asian Bankers: Central Banking in Southeast Asia and Hard Interests, Soft Illusions: Southeast Asia and American Power, both with Cornell University Press. Her most recent research examines the palm oil industry in Malaysia and Indonesia.