Southeast Asia February book tour
I will be giving talks in four Southeast Asia capitals in mid-February. More details to follow but I believe that anyone can attend. There should be an opportunity to buy the book at each event. The talks will be: Kuala Lumpur, MIMA – Tuesday 10 February Singapore, SIIA – Tuesday 10 February Jakarta, CSIS – Wednesday 11 […]
Obscure Chinese oil companies in the SCS
An article I wrote for The Economist, telling the story of two relatively obscure Chinese oil companies and their contrasting approaches to exploring for oil in the South China Sea. Brightoil is going down the conventional route – risking confrontation with Vietnam – while Fosun has bought Roc and is working under Malaysian regulations. The […]
Who makes China’s policy?
I ventured into a debate between two eminent analysts of Chinese policy-making: Bonnie Glaser of CSIS in Washington and Linda Jakobson of the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Linda recently wrote a very good report highlighting how many of China’s actions in the South China Sea could be explained by the bureaucratic imperatives of the organisations […]