Southeast Asia at the Geostrategic Crossroads: The Iran War, Trump's Tariffs, the South China Sea and Beyond

As world order fragments, Southeast Asia finds itself at a critical juncture. President Trump’s sweeping tariff agenda and transactional approach to allies and partners has caused Southeast Asian countries to reassess how best to defend their economic interests and long-term security. The US-Israel-Iran war has reshaped global energy markets and imposed serious costs on Southeast Asian economies. Meanwhile, ASEAN states are also having to deal with an increasingly powerful China and a tense and contested South China Sea. In this talk, Prof Thitinan Pongsudhirak will explore these converging pressures and ask what they mean not only for Southeast Asia, but for New Zealand and the wider Indo-Pacific.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak is widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of Southeast Asia’s international politics. He is Professor of International Relations at Chulalongkorn University and a Senior Fellow at its Institute of Security and International Studies in Bangkok. A prominent public intellectual, he is frequently called on to comment on regional affairs, with his analysis appearing in international media, including BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, Bloomberg, NHK and others. His scholarship spans Thai politics and political economy, as well as ASEAN and East Asian security and economic issues. In 2015, he served as the Kippenberger Visiting Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.

All welcome but please register via the link or to css@vuw.ac.nz.