At GRIPS Forum on January 15, 2024, Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan, Chairman, Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore, gave a lecture titled “Macro-strategic Trends in the Indo-Pacific”.

Abstract:

The lecture will begin with a broad over-view of three key macro-strategic trends in the Indo-Pacific: First the very concept of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ itself; second, changes in the approaches of the US and China to the region and the drivers of these changes; and third, responses of countries in the region to these changes in particular India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the ASEAN member states, and their impact of the regional security architecture. With this background, the lecture will go on to look in greater detail at Taiwan, the South and East China Seas and North Korea, and analyse the prospects for avoiding serious conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

Speaker: Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan,
              Chairman, Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore

Speakers’ Profile:

Bilahari Kausikan is currently Chairman of the Middle East Institute, an autonomous institute of the National University of Singapore. He has spent his entire career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his 37 years in the Ministry, he served in a variety of appointments at home and abroad, including as Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and as the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry. Raffles Institution, the University of Singapore and Columbia University in New York all attempted to educate him.

What is GRIPS Forum?

Since its establishment in 1997, the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) has promoted research and education on a wide variety of policy issues. The GRIPS Forum invites specialists from national and local governments as well as academic and business communities to promote policy studies and expand policy networks.