Indo-Pacific Issues in 2019
Dan Aum, director of NBR’s Washington, D.C., Office, interviews NBR President Richard J. Ellings on critical issues U.S. policymakers and businesses will likely need to manage in the Indo-Pacific region in 2019. Topics discussed include China’s Belt and Road Initiative, China-Russia cooperation, the United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy, North Korea, regional trade structures, and managing U.S. alliances and partnerships.
Time Stamps
Q1 [2:23]: What drew your interest in Asia in the first place?
Q2 [4:35]: How has that balance of power today changed since you first started studying the issue?
Q3 [6:56]: Is China-Russia cooperation the biggest challenge facing the United States from the Indo-Pacific? What would you identify as the greatest challenge?
Q4 [8:15]: How is the Trump Administration’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy ready to respond to that challenge?
Q5 [10:06]: What are the fundamentals the United States has to get right for national security?
Q6 [13:13]: What are the key challenges to the United States from China-Russia cooperation?
Q7 [16:05]: Do you see any opportunities in the China-Russia relationship that the United States can exploit?
Q8 [21:00]: How can the United States address the dual threat emanating from China and North Korea on the Korean Peninsula?
Q9 [27:33]: How do you see the policies of the Moon administration of South Korea affecting the U.S.-ROK relationship?
Q10 [29:46]: What are some of the other opportunities for America to work with allies and partners to advance U.S. national interests and Asian interests?
Q11 [33:07]: What do you think the Belt and Road Initiative looks like in 2019? How are countries responding to it now that it’s in its sixth year?
Q12 [37:18]: What are the key challenges in protecting American intellectual property in 2019, and where do we go from here?
Lightning round
Q13 [40:04]: Is now a good time to study international relations?
Q14 [41:39]: Do you have a book recommendation on geopolitics?
- History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
- Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap by Graham Allison
- On War by Carl von Clausewitz
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- Politics Among Nations by Hans Morgenthau
- The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–1939 by E.H. Carr
- A Contest for Supremacy: China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia by Aaron Friedberg
- The Political Economy of International Relations by Robert Gilpin
Other works mentioned in the podcast:
- Axis of Authoritarians: Implications of China-Russia Cooperation edited by Richard J. Ellings and Robert Sutter
- “2017 Update to the IP Commission Report” by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (IP Commission)
Richard J. Ellings
President Emeritus and Counselor (in residence), The National Bureau of Asian Research
Dan Aum
Programs
About Asia Insight
The NBR podcast series Asia Insight features interviews with top Asia experts about key issues affecting the Indo-Pacific region, with a focus on implications for U.S. policy and businesses. Subscribe to Asia Insight on Apple Podcasts and let us know what you think of the podcast on Twitter.
Media Contact: Dan Aum, [email protected] or (202) 347-9767.
Asia Insight theme music is by Laura Schwartz of Bellwether Bayou.