Huong Le Thu is a non-resident fellow with the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She is also a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and a member of the advisory board of the Griffith Asia Institute (GAI) at Griffith University. Dr. Le Thu has over 15 years of experience working in academia and think tanks in Taiwan (National Chengchi University), Singapore (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute), and Australia (Australian National University and ASPI). She has held short-term visiting fellowships with the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Jakarta, and the Korean Military Advisory Group in Seoul, among others. Her research interests include Vietnam’s defense and foreign policy, Southeast Asia’s security, ASEAN regionalism, and China-Southeast Asia relations. She has also successfully led projects looking at U.S.-Australia-Japan cooperation in Southeast Asia. Huong's publications have been featured in Asian Security, Asia-Pacific Review, Asian Policy, Oxford University Press, and Cambridge University Press, as well as Foreign Policy, the Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, the Australian Financial Review, the Straits Times, the Japan Times, the Taipei Times, The Diplomat, the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, among others. She speaks five languages and has published in four of them.

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The Asia Chessboard

Vietnam’s Great Power Hedge

Mike and Jude are joined by Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the International Crisis Group, whose research on Vietnam’s defense and foreign policy, Southeast Asia’s security, ASEAN regionalism, and China-Southeast Asia relations has featured in a wide range of publications. 

Podcast Episode by Jude Blanchette, Michael J. Green, and Huong Le Thu — October 31, 2023

CSIS The Asia Chess Board

Japan’s Crucial Role in Southeast Asia amid the Ukraine War

As Southeast Asia takes different positions on the war in Ukraine, the role of influential actors is critical. And Japan—both capable and willing to bridge the growing fissure—is increasingly taking on that role.

Commentary by Huong Le Thu — April 22, 2022