The Ripple Effect: China's Complex Presence in Southeast Asia

We are privileged to have Prof. Enze Han, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at HKU, as our guest author. Prof. Han will present an overview of “the Ripple Effect”, which serves as a critical resource for understanding the nuanced and evolving dynamics of China’s engagement in Southeast Asia. The book highlights the interplay between state intentions and local realities.

Following the presentation, a fireside chat will be held between Prof. Han and Mr. Alejandro Reyes, Scholar-in-Residence at the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre. To say that China has a complex presence in Southeast Asia is an understatement: millennia of Chinese migration and commercial, personal, political, and military interactions have woven a deep and intricate web of relations between China and its neighbors in the region. How should we consider China’s presence in the region today? How should we distinguish between the objectives of the Chinese state and the ongoing private business and personal ties of the people of China in the region? Join us to discuss these questions and to pose your own questions to our distinguished speakers.

Author

Prof. Enze HAN

Professor Han is Associate Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration. His research interests include international relations of East Asia, China's relations with Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian politics, and ethnic politics in China. Professor Han received a Ph.D in Political Science from the George Washington University in the United States in 2010. Afterwards he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the China and the World Program at Princeton University. During 2015-2016, he was a Friends Founders' Circle Member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA. In 2017, he was a fellow at the East Asia Institute in Seoul, South Korea. During 2021-2022, he was Lee Kong Chian Fellow on Contemporary Southeast Asia at the National University of Singapore and Stanford University. His research has been supported by the Leverhulme Research Fellowship and British Council/Newton Fund. Prior to HKU, Professor Han was Senior Lecturer in the International Security of East Asia at SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom.

Moderator

Mr. Alejandro Reyes

Mr. Reyes is Senior Fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration (PPA) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is also Scholar-in-Residence at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. He was previously director of knowledge dissemination at the Asia Global Institute, the think tank on global issues at HKU, where he managed the digital journal Asia Global Online. Prior to joining the Institute, he was for two years the senior policy adviser to the assistant deputy minister for Asia Pacific and set up and led the Asia-Pacific policy planning unit at Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian foreign ministry. He had previously served in the department in 2002 as a senior policy adviser to the Canadian foreign minister, working on the G8 and a review of Canadian foreign policy. From 2007 to 2017, he was an associate professor in the PPA Department at HKU. He started his professional career in 1988 as a journalist with Asia week magazine, where among other positions, he served as Hong Kong-based senior regional correspondent and Singapore bureau chief.

Date:

24 October 2024 (Thu)

Time:

16:00 - 18:00

Venue:

HKU iCube, 4005-4007, 40/F, Two Exchange Square, Central

Language:

English

Mode:

Face-to-face Sharing