CSDS-Asia Matters Podcast CSDS-Asia Matters

This episode Andrew is joined by Josh Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for South East Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Josh's new book, entitled "Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign To Influence Asia and the World", takes a deep dive into Beijing's soft power operations. What tools and techniques has it used to leverage influence over its neighbours and further afield? How successful have they been over the years? And what will the future of such operations look like in a post-pandemic world? 

This episode was recorded at the first ever Indo-Pacific Forum at the Brussels School of Governance, hosted by our partners, the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy. 

The forum was an opportunity for experts and policymakers from across both Europe and the Indo-Pacific to come together to talk about some really important issues - and for us to take them to one side to record them. 

Delegates discussed the geopolitical landscape - in particular, the US-China rivalry and how countries in the Indo-Pacific are responding to it - and what Europe's role in all of that might be. There was a session on the major security and defence trends taking place in the region, and one on the quickly changing landscape of technology and supply chains. 

To give you a flavour of the event, we talked to experts from each of the panels. 

Firstly Yuichi Hosoya, Professor of International Politics at Keio University, spoke on the balance of power in the region and how it's changed over time. 

Yoon Jung Choi, Director of the Center for Indo-Pacific Studies at South Korea's Sejong Institute, explained global supply chains and digital partnerships between Europe and Indo-Pacific countries. 

And lastly  Richard Tibbels, Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific at the European External Action Service, talked about how the EU sees its role in the region - and what the trends over the next few years might be.  

All eyes have been on China recently as the 20th Communist Party Congress drew to a close, and Xi Jinping was confirmed as leader for a historic third term. 
Joining us this episode to discuss the outcome of the congress and more is one of the UK’s leading academics on China, Kerry Brown. He's a prolific author, and started his career as a diplomat in the British embassy in Beijing in the 1990s. 
This show was recorded live in London about a week and a half ago in conjunction with the Lau Institute at King’s College, where Kerry is Professor of Chinese Studies.
We talked about two of his most recent books: firstly, Xi: A Study in Power, which looks at the rise of China’s leader and where his rule might be headed. 

And secondly, a fascinating collection that Kerry has put together with Gemma Chenger Deng called ‘China Through European Eyes’. In it, they take excerpts from writings on China by thinkers from Marco Polo to Voltaire, and Karl Marx to Simone de Beauvoir, looking at the ways in which they have interacted with and interpreted the country.

South Korea has undoubtedly become a major player both in regional and — increasingly — global geopolitics. A remarkable period of economic growth in recent decades has led it to become the world’s tenth largest economy, home to global corporate giants such as Samsung and Hyundai. 
Yet the country’s post World War Two politics has been marked by drama, particularly as it transitioned to democracy in the 1980s, and more recently, as the threat from neighbour North Korea has intensified. Meanwhile South Korea’s growing influence on the world stage has been buttressed by its extraordinary cultural success, particularly with the rise of K-Pop and the popularity of Korean cinema.
Our regular contributor Ramon Pacheco Pardo, the Korea Chair at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance, is our guest this week to discuss his new book, ‘From Shrimp to Whale’, in which he captures many of these themes. 
Joining him is Kim Eun Mee, Professor and Dean at the Graduate School of International Studies and the Director of the Institute for Development and Human Security at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

The assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on 8th July shocked the world, with tributes pouring in from all over the globe. 

Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister until he stepped down in 2020, was arguably one of the country’s most consequential leaders. He oversaw a programme of economic reform at home, which came to be known as Abenomics, as well as a reorientation of Japan’s approach to foreign policy and national security.
In this episode we look at Abe's legacy, particularly when it comes to international affairs. 

We are thrilled to be joined by Eva Pejsova, senior Japan fellow at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance; and Dr Mike Green, chief executive of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and the author of ‘Line of Advantage - Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Shinzo Abe.’ 

This episode focuses on Japan’s role in Asia, and in particular its somewhat overlooked relations with South East Asia.
While there is plenty of coverage of China’s increasing economic and diplomatic clout in the region, Japan — still, of course, the world’s third largest economy — has for decades been a major investor in the region. 

Not only that, it has also built strong diplomatic ties with southeast Asian nations and has recently been co-operating more closely on defence issues too, most recently signing a deal with Thailand.
At a time when inter-state relations in Asia are evolving and becoming more complex, we wanted to look at Japan's significant presence in the region — and also to understand how countries there view that role. 
To do so, we have regular guest Eva Pejsova, a senior Japan fellow at CSDS with a research portfolio that focuses on security issues in the Indo-Pacific region. 
And we’re delighted to be joined for the first time by Maria Thaemar Tana, an assistant professor in international relations at the University of the Philippines.