Allies Under the Shadow: Thailand, the Philippines, and the State of U.S. Alliances in Southeast Asia

The CSIS Southeast Asia Program is pleased to present The State of U.S. Alliances in Southeast Asia, a discussion with Dr. John Blaxland, Richard Heydarian, and Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery. They will discuss the state of U.S. ties with its Southeast Asian allies Thailand and the Philippines and how these alliances will be impacted by changing political dynamics in all three countries and power shifts in the Asia Pacific region.

John Blaxland is director of the Southeast Asia Institute and head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University (ANU). He served previously as director of Joint Intelligence Operations (J2) at Headquarters Joint Operations Command, and before that as Australia’s defense attaché to Thailand and Myanmar. Blaxland will discuss his forthcoming paper “Tipping the Balance in Southeast Asia?: Thailand, the United States, and China,” the result of a three-year research project funded by the Minerva Research Initiative. The paper was co-authored by Greg Raymond and will be jointly published by CSIS and the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre under ANU’s “Centre of Gravity” series.

Richard Heydarian is a resident political analyst with the GMA Network and a non-resident fellow with Stratbase ADR Institute in Manila. Formerly he was an assistant professor in International Affairs and Political Science at De La Salle University, and before that was a policy adviser in the Philippine House of Representatives. Heydarian recently published “The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy,” the first book to analyze the significance and implications of the rise of Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte within a rapidly-changing Asia Pacific region.
 

Mark Montgomery is policy director of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. A career naval officer, he served previously as Director for Operations at U.S. Pacific Command from 2014 to 2017. Before that, he commanded Battle Force Seventh Fleet/Task Force 70/Carrier Strike Group 5 aboard the USS George Washington from 2013 to 2014, and was Deputy Director for Plans, Policy, and Strategy at U.S. European Command from 2010 to 2012. Rear Admiral Montgomery has also served as head of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Strategy Branch and director for Transnational Threats on the National Security Council.