Over the past several years, Southeast Asia has been facing uncertainties and challenges of global political and economic competition e.g., the increasing US-China competition, the COVID pandemic, the Ukraine war followed by global energy crisis and inflation, China’s economic slowdown, global supply chain disruption and relocation, and Chinese coercion in the South China Sea2. According to the 2023 survey by ISEAS – a well-known Singapore-based thinktank, the top three concerns of Southeast Asian people include unemployment and economic recession, climate change and geopolitical tensions; nevertheless, ASEAN is not capable to cope with current economic and political challenges.3 While Southeast Asia’s economic growth remains resilient, the post-pandemic recovery of the region is still uncertain and vulnerable to Chinese and US market. From a historical perspective, Southeast Asia has been the battleground, at times literally, for geopolitical influence and then geoeconomic competition between great powers.  

How do geoeconomic and geopolitical challenges arising from current global competition affect Southeast Asia? Are there any opportunities? What may come next? What should Southeast Asian policymakers do, for central and local governments? The YSEALI Academy Public Policy seminar aims at addressing those questions, with a focus and perspective on policymaking. Following and leveraging the past seminar on economic integration, it will explore the interplay between economic, political, and security aspects of Southeast Asian development. It will also address critical problems for Southeast Asia economic-security nexus, including economic growth, FDI and supply chain relocation, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) , the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and infrastructure, security tensions (e.g., South China Sea, Taiwan, Ukraine war), and the role of ASEAN.