Panel Discussion
AUKUS, the Quad, and More: Strategy and Scope of Indo-Pacific Alliances
Zoom Webinar
Thursday, November 18, 2021 | 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM ET
Washington made headlines in September 2021 when it announced that the U.S. will be forming a new Indo-Pacific security alliance with the UK and Australia, AUKUS, alienating France in the process. This announcement came prior to Indian PM Narendra Modi’s trip to the U.S. for an in-person meeting of the Quad summit, a loose grouping of U.S., Japan, Australia, and India for talks on security, economy, health and more. What is the scope of these partnerships and how will they affect each other? Why is it important for the U.S. to develop new measures of security with other countries? What factors need to be in place to reduce tensions with China when it comes to this area of the globe? Join us Thursday, November 18 at 9 AM ET to explore these questions with our guest speakers, Professor Gordon Flake, Founding Chief Executive Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia; & Dr. Eva Pejsova, Senior Japan Fellow at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy & Strategy of the Brussels School of Governance & an Associate Fellow at the French “Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique”.
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SPEAKERS:
Professor Gordon Flake
Professor Gordon Flake is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia.
Professor Flake is one of the world’s leading authorities on strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. Having spent twenty-five years in the US foreign policy community focused on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and now seven years in Australia’s Indian Ocean capital he is an expert on key strategic relationships in the broader Indo-Pacific. He has authored many scholarly and policy studies on security developments in the region, and their policy implications for the US and its regional partners.
Since establishing the Centre in 2014, Professor Flake has worked to build stronger international relationships between Australia, the US and the broader Indo-Pacific. He has led the growth of several major international conferences in Australia and the region; and established a range of high-level diplomatic and policy dialogues on issues of shared concern for the Indo-Pacific.
Professor Flake is a sought-after media commentator, particularly on issues to do with US politics and foreign policy and strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. His work has appeared in many leading international outlets, including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, as well as across the Australian media landscape.
Professor Flake holds a number of strategic leadership roles. He is a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham), and serves on the board of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is Co-Chair of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a member of the international advisory board of the David M. Kennedy Centre at Brigham Young University, and on the Board of the Australia Korea Business Council WA.
Prior to joining the Centre, he was the Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, an Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States, and Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Korean) and Master of Arts (International and Area Studies) from Brigham Young University. He speaks both fluent Korean and Laotian.
Dr. Eva Pejsova
Dr. Eva Pejsova is a Senior Japan Fellow at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) of the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG-VUB) and an Associate Fellow at the French “Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique” (FRS). Previously, Dr Pejsova was in charge of the Asia portfolio at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), the EU’s agency for foreign and security policy research and analysis. She holds a PhD in Strategic Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore and has previously worked with the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Prime Minister’s Office, the OECD and the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
Dr Pejsova leads the Japan Program and runs a course on Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy. She also lectures at SciencesPo (Paris School of International Affairs) in Paris, the Geneva Centre for Security Studies (GCSP), as well as briefs the Members of the European Parliament. Her research focuses on security issues within the broader Indo-Pacific region, notably related to maritime security, sovereignty disputes, regional cooperative mechanism and good ocean governance. She is also interested in the role of the EU as a foreign and security policy actor.
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