Soft Power, Influence, and Strategic Competition in Southeast Asia
VIEW EVENT DETAILSKeynote Address by Rep. Joaquin Castro
As China expands its global presence, it is deploying a new range of diplomatic tools aimed at wooing friends and neighbors. This competition for influence is particularly apparent in Southeast Asia, where China has boosted foreign assistance, expanded infrastructure loans, and established new educational and cultural programs. While many countries welcome much-needed development assistance, some have also expressed concerns about the impact and transparency of China’s influence in the region.
Please join the Asia Society Policy Institute for a discussion on the changing landscape of soft power and influence in Southeast Asia. The event will begin with welcome remarks by Ambassador John D. Negroponte and a keynote address by U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Lindsey Ford, Director of Political-Security Affairs at ASPI. The panel will feature a diverse range of experts, including: Kenichi Nishikata, Alternate Executive Director for Japan at the World Bank; Natashya Gutierrez, Editor-in-Chief at VICE Media Asia; Rattaphol Onsanit, Voice of America Thailand Service Chief; and Michael Fuchs, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Speakers
Representative Joaquin Castro is in his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Castro serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was the 2013 Co-President for the House freshman Democrats and serves in House Democratic Leadership as Chief Deputy Whip. Congressman Castro is a Founding Co-Chair of both the U.S.-Japan Caucus and the Congressional Caucus on ASEAN, and is also a member of the Congressional Singapore Caucus and the Congressional Caucus on India.
Ambassador John D. Negroponte is the Vice Chairman of McLarty Associates. Prior to joining McLarty Associates in 2009, Ambassador Negroponte held government positions abroad and in Washington between 1960 and 1997 and again from 2001 to 2008. He has been Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq. In Washington, he served twice on the National Security Council staff, first as Director for Vietnam in the Nixon Administration and then as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a cabinet-level position as the first Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as Deputy Secretary of State, where he served as the State Department’s Chief Operating Officer.
Panelists
Lindsey W. Ford is the Director of Political-Security Affairs for the Asia Society Policy Institute, as well as ASPI’s inaugural Richard Holbrooke Fellow and Deputy Director of the Washington D.C. Office. Prior to joining ASPI, she served in a variety of roles at the U.S. Department of Defense, where she received the Award for Exceptional Civilian Service in 2014. Most recently, she was the Senior Adviser to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, where she managed a team of advisers providing leadership on regional strategy planning, regional security assistance and force posture, and maritime security issues, including publication of the Defense Department’s first Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Strategy in August 2015. She also served as Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s Sherpa for the 2014 U.S.-ASEAN Defense Forum, where she oversaw the first meeting of the ten ASEAN Defense Ministers to the United States.
Kenichi Nishikata serves as the Alternate Executive Director for Japan at the World Bank Group (WBG) since July 2017. Previously, he held the position of Senior Advisor to the Executive Director for Japan from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Nishikata joined the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Japan, in 1996. Since then he held various leadership positions in the national public administration in different capacities, including Advisor to the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office (2015-2017) and Director of the Office of Policy Planning, Ministerial Secretariat, MOF, (2013-2015).
Natashya Gutierrez is the Editor-in-Chief at VICE Media Asia. Prior to joining VICE, she worked at Rappler as the Indonesia Bureau Chief and a Regional Correspondent for Southeast Asia. Ms. Gutierrez has been awarded several journalism fellowships for her content and videography, including the 2015 Asian Journalist Fellowship and the 2014 Reporting ASEAN Fellowship.
Rattaphol Onsanit is the Chief of Thai Service for Voice of America (VOA). He has worked for VOA for nearly 7 years, covering a variety of news stories in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to joining VOA, Mr. Onsanit was the Senior Correspondent for Dow Jones in Bangkok and an Asia Commodities Reporter for Bloomberg.
Michael H. Fuchs is a senior fellow at American Progress, where his work focuses on U.S. foreign policy priorities and U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific region. From 2013 to 2016, Fuchs served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. He was also the special adviser to the secretary of state for strategic dialogues from 2011 to 2013, leading planning and preparation for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s strategic dialogues with China, India, South Africa, and others. During this time, Fuchs also served as a member of the secretary’s policy planning staff, where he worked on a diverse set of issues and initiatives. From 2009 to 2011, Fuchs was special assistant to Secretary Clinton, providing day-to-day and long-term policy advice on the full range of U.S. foreign policy issues.
Event Details
1779 Massachusetts Ave, NW
(Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2nd Floor)