This webinar examines the opportunities and challenges for United States-Vietnam relations following their recent leadership changes. Under the Trump administration, a shared perception of China as a threat “pushed” the two former adversaries to strengthen bilateral ties. With a new Democratic administration under Joe Biden in the United States, and Nguyen Phu Trong beginning this third term with a new leadership team in Vietnam, domestic political factors in both countries could pull the two countries further apart, potentially impacting security cooperation.
Presenter:
Dr. Huong Le Thu is a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Defense and Strategy Program. She previously worked at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, and the Institute of International Relations in Taiwan, where she additionally obtained her Ph.D. Her research interests primarily focused on the effect of external interventions on the politics of state formation, identity, nationalism, as well as power projection and power perception. She additionally has strong interests in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and regional security.
Discussants:
Lien-Hang T. Nguyen is the Dorothy Borg Associate Professor in the History of the United States and East Asia, specializes in the Vietnam War, U.S.-Southeast Asian relations, and the global Cold War. Professor Nguyen is currently working on a comprehensive history of the 1968 Tet Offensive for RandomHouse. She is the general editor of the forthcoming Cambridge History of the Vietnam War, 3 vols., as well as co-editor of the Cambridge Studies in U.S. Foreign Relations.
Murray Hiebert is a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. He earlier served as senior adviser and deputy director of the CSIS Southeast Asia Program. Prior to joining CSIS, Hiebert was senior director for Southeast Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Earlier, he was a journalist in the China bureau of the Wall Street Journal.
Moderator:
Ann Marie Murphy is a Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and 2019-2010 ASEAN Research Program Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Murphy’s research interests include international relations and comparative politics in Southeast Asia, U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, and governance of non-traditional security issues. Dr. Murphy is a founding partner of the New York Southeast Asia Network and is currently completing a book on the impact of democracy on Indonesian foreign policy with the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation.
This event is part of the Southeast Asia Views America: Perceptions, Policies & Prospects virtual conference.
This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN) and the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.
