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Alliance Internalized: The Securitization of US-Thai Relations

As the bedrock of the treaty alliance between Thailand and the United States was outward-oriented against the common external threat of communist expansionism, relations between Bangkok and Washington understandably became adrift after the end of the Cold War. Bilateral ties sunk to an unprecedented low during Thailand’s existential economic crisis in 1997-98 but perked up in new realignment in 2003, when Bangkok was designated a US major non-NATO ally (MNNA). Since then, two-way relations have been mired in the vicissitudes and machinations of Thailand’s domestic politics and the US’ moving balance between foreign policy interests and values. The Thai-US alliance has entered a new phase under the new reign from 2016 whereby Thai national security conception, practice and enforcement have broadened. As internal security to protect and promote Thailand’s ruling regime becomes paramount, the “securitization” of Thai foreign relations is likely to determine Thailand’s dealings abroad indefinitely.

Presenter: Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak is the Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS) and Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. He has held visiting positions at John Hopkins’ SAIS, Stanford University, Yangon University, and Victoria University in New Zealand. He received his BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an MA from John Hopkins SAIS, and a PhD from the London School of Economics. He has published books and articles on a range of topics including on Thailand’s politics, political economy, foreign policy, and media as well as on ASEAN and East Asian security and economic cooperation. He has published more than 800 op-eds in news outlets such as The Bangkok Post and the International New York Times, and his comments and views are frequently quoted in international and local media.

Register here.

Discussant:

TBA

Moderator: Ann Marie Murphy is a Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and 2019-2010 ASEAN Research Program Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Murphy’s research interests include international relations and comparative politics in Southeast Asia, U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, and governance of non-traditional security issues. Dr. Murphy is a founding partner of the New York Southeast Asia Network and is currently completing a book on the impact of democracy on Indonesian foreign policy with the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation.

This event is part of the Southeast Asia Views America: Perceptions, Policies & Prospects virtual conference.

This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN), the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University and the APEC Study Center at Columbia University.

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The Philippines Hedging Between Alliance or Appeasement: Can the Biden Administration Tip the Balance?

This webinar will look at how the Philippine and the U.S. defense establishments have effectively managed the crisis in the Philippine-U.S. alliance created by the Duterte Administration’s appeasement policy on China since 2016. This appeasement policy was characterized by the administration’s efforts to foster closer diplomatic and economic relations with China while making calculated moves to distance the Philippines from the U.S. and its allies (Japan and Australia) relative to the South China Sea disputes. In February 2020, however, President Duterte unilaterally abrogated the 1999 Philippine-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). This triggered another crisis in the alliance. The webinar will look at the Biden Administration’s immediate challenges facing the Biden Administration as it seeks to renegotiate another VFA with the Philippines in the face of President Duterte’s ambivalent attitude toward the alliance and to ensure that it will remain intact beyond his administration. It will also look at Biden’s long-term task to ensure that the Philippine-U.S. alliance remains intact, flexible, and vibrant in the face of a changing 21st-century Indo-Pacific region.

Presenter:

Renato Cruz De Castro is a Distinguished University Professor in the International Studies Department, De La Salle University, and Manila. He is the chair-holder of the Dr. Aurelio Calderon Chair in Philippine-American Relation. He earned his Ph.D. from the Government and International Studies Department of the University of South Carolina as a Fulbright Scholar in 2001, and obtained his B.A. and two master’s degrees from the University of the Philippines. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Albert Del Rosario Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ADRI), he contributes his two monthly opinion columns to the Business World and Philippine Star.

Discussant:

Gregory B. Poling is a senior fellow for Southeast Asia and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at CSIS. He oversees research on U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific, with a particular focus on the maritime domain and the countries of Southeast Asia. His research interests include the South China Sea disputes, democratization in Southeast Asia, and Asian multilateralism. Mr. Poling’s writings have been featured in Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, Nikkei Asian Review, and Foreign Policy, among others.

Moderator:

Ann Marie Murphy is a Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and 2019-2010 ASEAN Research Program Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Murphy’s research interests include international relations and comparative politics in Southeast Asia, U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, and governance of non-traditional security issues. Dr. Murphy is a founding partner of the New York Southeast Asia Network and is currently completing a book on the impact of democracy on Indonesian foreign policy with the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation.

This event is part of the Southeast Asia Views America: Perceptions, Policies & Prospects virtual conference.

This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN) and the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.

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Workshop of Buddhism in Inner Asia and the Early Modern World

Workshop of Buddhism in Inner Asia and the Early Modern World

May 12th, 2021
1 pm – 2:30 pm (EDT)

Speaker: Lan Wu, Assistant Professor of History, Mount Holyoke College
Title: The Zunghars’ Pilgrimages to Tibet and Buddhist Inner Asia
Abstract: In 1741, the Oirat Zunghars requested a visit to Lhasa to pay their respect to the fifth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Yeshe (1663-1737). It was the first of three such demands sent to the Qing imperial court, all of which triggered complicated logistical planning for the Qing administration. The trips are often considered within the framework of Qing China’s border trade or tribute missions during a short truce in the long Zunghars-Qing war. In this talk, I offer a reappraisal of the Zunghars’ journeys, and show that they were Buddhist pilgrimages within an expanding Buddhist Inner Asia. The analytical shift emphasizes the versatility of pilgrimages and the movement of things, and addresses the mutual dependency of a growing Buddhist network and shifting geopolitical reality in Inner Asia.

Speaker: Sangseraima Ujeed, Assistant Professor of Tibetan Buddhism, University of Michigan
Title: Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhists in the Early Modern Period: A Case of Tibeto-Mongolian Symbiosis
Abstract: Soon after the consolidation of sectarian Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhism, the major Tibetan Buddhist traditions formed codependent relationships with the various Mongolian factions led by the descendants of Chingghis Khan (1162-1227). The religio-political networks which grew out of these relationships brought about the coevolution of religion, culture, and identity amongst the people of the Himalayas and Inner Asia. The result was a geographically and culturally expansive transnational Tibetan Buddhist “symbiotic ecosystem”. This talk will explore aspects of the Tibeto-Mongolian symbiosis which was fundamental in the development of the tradition such as the multi-linear networks of reincarnation, knowledge transmission, monasteries, and immigration during the pre-modern period by presenting a comparative analysis of existing and new materials.

Moderator: Matthew King, Associate Professor in Transnational Buddhism, University of California, Riverside

Register for the Zoom link: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kc-Gopj8pH9P1Yetv9Xt53xgqLSZM9KVJ
This event is a part of the lecture series “China, Inner Asia, and the World: Mongol and Qing Empires in Comparative Perspectives” sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University.

Event Contact Information: Ling-Wei Kung lk2627@columbia.edu

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