Organizer: Asia Society Policy Institute
Type/Location: Virtual
Picture: Paula Bronstein via Getty Images
Description:
Earlier this year, a Cambodian soldier was shot in a brief exchange of gunfire between Cambodian and Thai forces along a disputed part of their shared border. What initially appeared to be a bilateral military skirmish escalated quickly, first into a tit-for-tat cycle of border point closures and import bans, and then into five days of intense fighting that displaced over 300,000 people.
A ceasefire has been brokered between Cambodia and Thailand, but many questions remain. Will the ceasefire hold? Does Malaysia’s role in negotiating the cessation of violence serve as a testament to ASEAN’s capacity to mediate between member states? What role did the U.S. play in bringing leaders to the negotiating table? With Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra now suspended from office, what lies ahead for Thai domestic politics? What will the future of Thai-Cambodian relations look like?
To discuss these questions, join ASPI for a conversation with regional experts. The panel will include Sophal Ear, Associate Professor and former Senior Associate Dean in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, Supalak Ganjanakhundee, advisor to the Thai House of Representatives Military Committee, former Visiting Fellow in the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and former editor of The Nation, and Benjamin Zawacki, senior program specialist at The Asia Foundation. Bryanna Entwistle, Press and Program Officer at ASPI, will moderate the conversation.
About the Speakers:
Sophal Ear, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University. He serves as President of the International Public Management Network and Vice-Chair of the Public Policy & International Affairs Program (PPIA). He is also a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Ear has authored several books, including "Viral Sovereignty and the Political Economy of Pandemics" (Routledge, 2022), "Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy" (Columbia University Press, 2013), and co-authored "The Hungry Dragon: How China’s Resources Quest is Reshaping the World" (Routledge, 2013). His TEDTalk, "Escaping the Khmer Rouge," has been viewed nearly a million times.
Supalak Ganjanakhundee is a Thai journalist and author, active both within and outside Thailand and specializing in Thai politics and international relations. He currently is an advisor to the Thai House of Representatives Military Committee. He worked as a reporter in the Thai and foreign news, including with the Matichon Group, the Manager Media Group, and Kyodo News, and served as chief editor of The Nation between 2018 and 2019. Supalak was a Visiting Fellow in the Thailand Studies Program at the ISEAS- Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, between October 2019 and June 2020.
Benjamin Zawacki has been a senior program specialist at The Asia Foundation since March 2020, following several years in a consultancy role. He helps manage programs on regional maritime and cyber security, ASEAN, the Mekong River, and the US-Thailand relationship.
Zawacki is the author of Thailand: Shifting Ground Between the US and a Rising China (Bloomsbury), which was translated into Chinese and whose second edition was released in December 2021. He was a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations through 2016 and a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program in 2014-2015. He served as a policy advisor to President Jimmy Carter and two other members of the Elders in Myanmar in 2013 and was Amnesty International’s Southeast Asia researcher for five years through 2012. He has also worked for several UN agencies. A regular contributor to the media in Southeast Asia, he has published over 50 articles, reports, and opinion editorials. He is a member of the New York State Bar and a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and the College of the Holy Cross. He has lived in Thailand for 19 years.
Bryanna Entwistle (moderator) is a Press and Program Officer at the Asia Society Policy Institute. She manages press relations and supports editorial work for ASPI staff across the globe. She also works with the International Security and Diplomacy team, focusing on U.S. foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific and Southeast Asia. Entwistle has written op-eds on subjects ranging from USAID to the Thai-Cambodia border conflict for ChinaFile, The Diplomat, 9Dashline, and Channel News Asia.
Entwistle received a BA with Honors in History and Minors in Government and Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages from Dartmouth College. She completed internships with Schwarzman Scholars and The Asia Foundation, which named her a 2024 LeadNext Fellow. Entwistle was born in Hong Kong and raised in Mumbai and Singapore
Registration:
To attend the event online, please register here.