#79- Professor Selina Ho : ASEAN’S Playbook For An Evolving Global Order

2026-04-02

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Professor Selina Ho is Vice Dean (Research and Development), Dean’s Chair, and Associate Professor in International Affairs at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on Chinese politics and foreign policy, with a particular interest in how China wields power and influence through infrastructure and water disputes in Southeast Asia and South Asia.Her work sits at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations. Her book, Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in S...

Her research focuses on Chinese politics and foreign policy, with a particular interest in how China wields power and influence through infrastructure and water disputes in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Her work sits at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations. Her book, Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia, is widely regarded as a definitive text on the Belt and Road Initiative in the region.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Trailer
00:52 — Introduction
01:21 — Why Southeast Asia Matters to Both Superpowers
04:25 — Will Trump Turn His Back on the Region?
09:41 — The Fear of US Abandonment
14:17 — How Southeast Asia Actually Sees China
18:37 — Chinese Influence vs. Chinese Dominance
21:37 — Wolf Warrior Diplomacy in China
29:11 — The Belt and Road
33:47 — When China Owns Your Power Grid: The Laotian Lesson
37:44 — China Wants Regional Dominance
40:16 — How ASEAN Elites Actually Respond to Chinese Influence
43:06 — What Regional Decision-Makers Really Think
47:31 — ASEAN Centrality
51:52 — Why ASEAN Is Strong on Trade and Weak on Security
55:15 — Building an ASEAN Identity
01:00:19 — What Singapore Should Do With Its 2027 ASEAN Chairmanship
01:01:46 — Advice for a Fresh Graduate Entering the Working World

This is the 80th episode of The Front Row Podcast.

📄 Research Paper
“Elite Perceptions of a China-Led Regional Order in Southeast Asia”
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/18681034241294093#table2-18681034241294093

📜 Full Transcripts
https://www.ykeith.com/tag/podcast/

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