The UP Asian Center will hold a virtual research conference, “Beyond ASEAN: Global and Local Impacts of Balancing Domestic and Foreign Policy Priorities,” on 13 January 2021, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm, Philippine time via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public, but interested participants are required to register using an authenticated Zoom account.

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This conference will feature sixteen (16) graduate student presentations from graduate students of the UP Asian Center. It focuses on various facets of Southeast Asian states and on ASEAN affairs, from geopolitics, diplomacy, and oil and gas to COVID-19, precolonial history, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: 9:30 am

ASEAN'S EXTERNAL RELATIONS: PUSHING THE ASEAN AGENDA
     Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso

The keynote will be delivered by Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso, Officer-in-Charge, Undersecretary for Policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Philippines. She was also the former Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives at the ASEAN, and has served as former Ambassador to Laos and Norway, with concurrent accreditation to Denmark and Iceland. She has worked in the Philippine foreign service for 39 years.

PANEL 1: ISSUES WITHIN SOUTHEAST ASIA (10:55 am)

• • Pursuit of National Interest by the Philippines and Indonesia through ASEAN
              Claire Gaurana

  • The Geopolitics of Southeast Asia
               Loverly Barquez

PANEL 2: ASEAN AND MAJOR POWERS (11:30 am)

• • Discussions on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
              Nadine Aralar

  • Future Impacts of the FOIP Strategy to the Southeast Asian Region by the US-Japan Alliance
              Paulo Mendoza

  • ASEAN’s Perspective of China’s Growing Global Governance
              Nicole Juliano

PANEL 3: NATURAL AND MAN-MADE CRISES (12:20 pm)

• • The Power Shift from the Sinking Jakarta to the Forests of East Kalimantan: Indonesia’s Capital Relocation and its Impacts on International Affairs
              Ef Aguilar

  • "Pandemic Politics" and Its Impact on ASEAN International Relations
              Maron Albangco

  • How Much is COVID-19? A Comparative Study of Expenditure of Southeast Asia Countries in Combat with the COVID-19 Pandemic
              Michael Ong

  • Our Forests and COVID-19: Impacts of the Pandemic on the Forest Sector in Thailand and Cambodia
              Bea Alvarez

PANEL 4: ASEAN AS FORERUNNER OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN REGIONALISM (1:15 pm)

• • Domestic Determinants and Foreign Policy Shifting: the Marcos and Duterte's Foreign Policy Shift from West to East
              Kobe Loterinia

  • The "ASEAN Way": ASEAN's Role in Conflict Management in Southeast Asia
             Von Sumergido

  • Prediction 101: ASEAN Defense Diplomacy as the Saving Grace of ASEAN Centrality in the 21st Century
              Patrick De Guzman

PANEL 5: ASEAN'S NATURAL AND MANMADE RESOURCES (2:05 pm)

• • Vietnam's Oil and Gas Exploration in the South China Sea: The Implications to Vietnam's Conduct of Foreign Relations
               Maria Pilar

  • Harmonization of The Cross Border Data Flows Mechanism: The 4IR in ASEAN
              Alyssa Malabanan

PANEL 6: POLITICS OF HERITAGE (2:40 pm)

• • Lessons on Citizenship in Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia
              Briana Campos

  • Teaching of Bahasa Indonesia untuk Penutur Asing (Indonesian Language for Non-native Speakers) as Indonesia's Soft Power
                Therese Ledesma

A synthesis and short Q and A will follow the presentations for each panel.

VIEW PROGRAM

WEBINAR GUIDELINES

Registration

• • When registering for the webinar, use the same email address that you use for your Zoom account.

  • If your registration is successful, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to join the webinar. Please do not share that link. Email reminders will be sent a day and an hour before the start of the webinar.

  • Attendance is first-come, first-served. The webinar can only accommodate 500. A live stream will be generated only if attendance exceeds 500. In this case, a link to the livestream will be posted on this page.

Webinar Proper

• • For a smooth entry to the webinar, log in first to your Zoom account before clicking the invitation/join link.

  • Questions may be typed via the Q&A panel. You may choose to remain anonymous. The moderator and/or the main speaker will choose from the questions and answer them during the Open Forum. Please note that time constraints may not allow us to answer all queries.

  • The host(s) reserves the right to remove participants who send rude, inappropriate questions or messages.

ORGANIZERS

The event is organized by Asian Center graduate students from the classes of Dean Joefe B. Santarita, PhD for the 1^st Semester, A.Y. 2020-2021.

 The UP Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D.  program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.