News

Tuesday 18 May 2021

Conference "The Countries of the Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Region amid Beijing and Washington"

 
The scientific inter-institutional online conference "The Countries of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Region amid Beijing and Washington" was held on the 17th of May 2021.

The event was organized by the Center for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences).

Organizer: E.M. Astafieva, Ph.D.

Moderators: D.V. Mosyakov, Doctor of History, E.M.Astafieva, Ph.D.

The conference was attended by specialists from various academic, research, educational institutions and practical organizations, in particular, from the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Institute of the Far-East (the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Institute of Asia and Africa (the Moscow State University), Moscow State University of Foregn Affairs, St. Petersburg State University, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and others.

Dmitry V. Mosyakov, the Head of the Center of South-East Asia, Australia, and Oceania of the Institute of Oriental Studies, addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. He honored the memory of Valery Androsov, the former Director of the Institute, who had passed away recently. A minute of silence was conducted solemnly.

E.M. Astafieva, the scientific secretary of the Center, presented the books published in the year 2020 based on the results of scientific conferences held by the Center for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania (the Institute of Oriental Studies). Then she invited the participants to further joint work.

29 reports were presented at the conference, 13 of them - in absentia. About 30 people took part in the conference work.

The speeches were devoted to a wide range of issues related to the conference topic: the reaction of the Association of the SouthEast Asian Nations countries to the changes in the Asia-Pacific Region, modern foreign studies of the United States and China policy in the Southeast Asia, the role of the Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Region in NATO's global strategy in the 21st century, regional integration in the 21st century, as well as contours study of "conflict bipolarity" in the Southeast Asia.

A separate block of reports was devoted to the issues of interaction among individual countries of Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore) and the South Pacific region (New Caledonia, Australia, New Zealand) with China and the United States. All reports were accompanied by a lively discussion. The meeting lasted for more than 5 hours.

We have to mention 13 reports of people absent at the conference. These reports were on the Association of the South East Asian Nation - China free trade agreement, the Chinese factor in Cambodian-American relations, the American educational institutions in Vietnam, Scott Morrison's foreign policy dilemma, Australia's position in the conflict over the South China Sea, the opening of military bases by India, its allies and partners, the relations of the Philippines, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, as well as some Northeast Asian countries with Beijing and Washington.

The conference materials review will be published traditionally on the pages of our magazine "Southeast Asia: Topical Development Issues".