Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times’ US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh brings an Asian vision of the hugest global talking points with expert guests. The East Asia Summit in Jakarta, and the G20 in New Delhi, broadly solidified US rapports in the area, but it is the bilaterals with India and Vietnam that pretty much mattered. New Delhi also saw a reiteration of the raising intimate US-India rapport. Of equal value perhaps in terms of competence with China, was President Biden’s trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, where the two nations officially brought up their rapport. To unveil the relevance and need of these meetings, ST’s US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh hosts two guests in this episode:
1. Ambassador Scot Marciel, the previous US diplomat to Myanmar, Indonesia and Asean, who is currently a senior advisor at Bower Group Asia
2. Dr Lynn Kuok, Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia-Pacific safety at the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Highlights (click/tap above):
3:40 Why the G20 cemented India’s picture as a global diplomatic and strategic player
5:26 Why the so-called “double upgrade” of the US-Vietnam rapport is meaningful.
6:18 Why Asean’s and the world’s approach to Myanmar has been flawed
11:08 Why the US aim should be a lot less on conversing to South-east Asia about China, as the area already is aware of China.