Ninth Annual South China Sea Conference

The CSIS Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative are pleased to present the Ninth Annual South China Sea Conference on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. This full-day conference will provide opportunities for in-depth discussion and analysis of developments in the South China Sea over the past year and potential paths forward. Panels will address the state of play in the South China Sea, the history and historiography of disputes in the South China Sea, pathways for dispute management, and the global stakes related to the South China Sea.

10:00 a.m.         State of Play in the South China Sea

Evan Laksmana
Senior Researcher
Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta
 
Huong Le Thu
Senior Analyst
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

Gregory B. Poling
Director, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative; Fellow, Southeast Asia Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Liu Xiaobo
Associate Research Fellow; Director, World Navy Research Center
National Institute for South China Sea Studies

Moderator
Bonnie Glaser
Senior Adviser for Asia and Director, China Power Project
Center for Strategic and International Studies
 
11:15 a.m.      How Did We Get Here? History and Historiography
 
Kavi Chongkittavorn
Senior Fellow
Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University
 
Bill Hayton
Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme
Chatham House
 
Stein Tønnesson
Research Professor
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
 
Marites Vitug
Editor-at-Large
Rappler

Moderator
Amy Searight
Senior Adviser and Director, Southeast Asia Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies

12:30 p.m.      Lunch Served
 
1:15 p.m.        Lunch Keynote

Admiral Scott H. Swift, U.S. Navy, Retired
Former Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet
                    
2:00 p.m.        Pathways for Dispute Management
 
Jay Batongbacal
Associate Professor; Director, Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea
University of the Philippines
 
Lan Nguyen
Assistant Professor
Utrecht University School of Law
 
Prashanth Parameswaran
Senior Editor
The Diplomat
 
Ian Storey
Senior Fellow
ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute

Moderator
Gregory Poling
Director, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative and Fellow, Southeast Asia Program
Center for Strategic and International Studies

3:15 p.m.        Coffee Break
 
3:30 p.m.        Global Stakes

Pooja Bhatt
PhD Candidate
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Sarah Kirchberger
Researcher, Center for Asia-Pacific Strategy and Security
Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK)
 
Toshihiro Nakayama
Professor, Faculty of Policy Management
Keio University

Bec Strating
Senior Lecturer, Politics, La Trobe University; Asia Studies Visiting Fellow, East-West Center in Washington

Moderator
Michael J. Green
Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Chair, CSIS; Director of Asian Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

4:45 p.m.        Adjourn


This event is made possible by the FESS Foundation, the Embassy of Australia, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Embassy of Japan, the Embassy of New Zealand, and general support to CSIS.