With the U.S. heading to the polls in November, Asia, like the rest of the world, will be following the election outcome closely. While all U.S. elections are consequential for the world, this one seems especially so, with the two candidates charting divergent paths for U..S policy on issues such as global security, trade and climate change.

Hear from Asia Society’s global network of experts from Melbourne, Delhi, Hong Kong and Tokyo to explore how Asian countries perceive the U.S. role in Asia and what bearing the election will have on the region’s security and prosperity. They spoke at an event on September 11, 2024, organized by the Asia Society Centers in Australia, India, Hong Kong, and Japan. Watch the full video here.

SPEAKERS ON THIS EPISODE

Harsh Vardhan Shringla was India’s Foreign Secretary from 2020-2022. He has also served as India's Ambassador to the United States, Bangladesh and Thailand and as the Chief Coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency in 2022-23. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1984 and spent 38 years in the service.

He has served in a variety of posts including France (as part of India's Mission to UNESCO and the embassy, respectively), the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York City, Vietnam (as consul-general in Ho Chi Minh City and at the embassy in Hanoi), Israel, and South Africa (as consul-general in Durban). Ambassador Shringla contributes regularly to opinion in India on domestic and international developments of interest. He pursued a course in conflict prevention at Columbia University and addressed prominent universities, including the Stanford School of Business, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

As President of the Darjeeling Welfare Society, a non governmental organization, he is also committed to working for the welfare of the underprivileged in remote communities, and on environmental, climate change and other  issues in Northeastern India.

Natalie Sambhi is a Senior Policy Fellow with Asia Society Australia. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Verve Research, an independent think tank focused on Southeast Asia, and a Non-resident Fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy Program.

Natalie holds a BA (Asian Studies) (Hons) from the University of Western Australia, a MA (International Relations) and Master of Diplomacy from the Australian National University, and a PhD from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, the Australian National University on the Indonesian military’s history.

Since 2022, Natalie has worked as an academic with Deakin University, convening modules for the Australian War College’s Defence and Strategic Studies Course (DSSC) and Australian Command and Staff Course (ACSC). She has previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre, as an Analyst and Managing Editor of ASPI’s blog, The Strategist, at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), the Australian Department of Defence, University of Canberra and for the academic journal Asian-Pacific Economic Literature. In May 2014 and in January 2016, Natalie was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington, DC.

Hiroyuki Akita is a commentator at Nikkei. He regularly writes commentaries and columns, analysis mainly on foreign & international security affairs. He joined Nikkei in 1987 and worked at the Political News Dept (1998-2002) where he covered Japanese foreign and security policies, and domestic politics. He was Senior & Editorial Staff Writer (2009-2017).

He was Beijing Correspondent (1994-1998) and Washington Chief Correspondent (2002-2006). In Beijing, he reported major news events such as death of Deng Xiaoping and the Hong Kong handover to China. In Washington D.C., he covered the White House, Pentagon, and State Department during the George W. Bush administration. He graduated from Jiyu Gakuen College in 1987 and Boston University (M.A.). From 2006 to 2007, he was an associate of US-Japan Program at Harvard University, where he conducted a research on US-China-Japan relations. He published two books: Anryu (Power Game of US-China-Japan) (2008) and Ranryu (Strategic Competition of US-Japan and China) (2016).

Debra Mao is former Taiwan bureau chief for Bloomberg News as well as an Asia-based broadcast journalist for Bloomberg TV. She interviewed heads of state, corporate leaders, and market regulators in Greater China as a foreign correspondent. Early in her career, she worked on U.S. public affairs programs including “Nightline” and “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” for ABC News in Washington DC. In 2019, Mao founded a media-tech startup and, later, hosted a technology and society themed podcast for China’s Alibaba Group.

She is currently based in Hong Kong and consults for multinational clients on public affairs and media strategy. Mao is a San Francisco native and earned her BA in sociology from Harvard University.

STATE OF ASIA podcast

Season 7, Episode 2 – published September 17, 2024

Host, Editor/Producer: Remko Tanis, Programs and Editorial Manager, Asia Society Switzerland

Find previous and future episodes here, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or search for 'State of Asia' in any other podcast app. We're also on YouTube.