Organizer: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Type/Location: Virtual
Description:
In 2026, Naypyidaw is seeking to re-enter the international diplomatic fold but asserting engagement on its own terms. Commander-in-Chief-turned-President Mr Min Aung Hlaing launched a diplomatic offensive in late May 2026, starting with visits to countries considered “friendly” to Myanmar (mainly Myanmar’s immediate neighbours), leveraging strategic, economic and security interests. In June and August, Beijing and Moscow rolled out the red carpet and sought to solidify ongoing collaboration with Naypyidaw. The nature and number of agreements that Naypyidaw entered into with each show what dictates choices on both sides. The ISEAS Myanmar Studies Programme continues this conversation on engaging Naypyidaw in 2026, with two expert analyses on Beijing’s and Moscow’s calculations.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Yun Sun is a Senior Fellow, Co-Director of the East Asia Program, and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations, and China’s relations with neighbouring countries and authoritarian regimes. Yun has served as Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2011-14), where she focused on Chinese national security decision-making processes; China Analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) based in Beijing (2008-11), specialising in China’s foreign policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Before the ICG, she worked on U.S.-Asia relations in Washington, DC for five years. Yun holds a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Ian Storey is Principal Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and co-editor of the academic journal Contemporary Southeast Asia. He specialises in regional security issues with a focus on Southeast Asia’s relations with the major powers and maritime security, especially the South China Sea dispute. Prior to ISEAS, Ian held academic positions at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii, and at Deakin University, Australia. Ian received his PhD from the City University of Hong Kong, his Master’s degree from the International University of Japan and his BA (Hons) from the University of Hull, England. He is the author of Putin’s Russia and Southeast Asia: The Kremlin’s Pivot to Asia and the Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War (ISEAS, 2025).
Registration:
To attend the event virtually, please register here.