2023.03.28
On the 28th of March, the Grandview Instituion (GVI) organised an online conference titled “Russo-Ukrainian Conflic and Its Impact on Asian Security”. Acting as the conference’s moderator was Professor Li Mingjiang of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. It was attended by Frederick Kliem, also from the RSIS, NTU, Ouyang Wei, from the GVI, Austin Wyatt, from the Rand Corporation and Kei Koga, from NTU’s School of Social Sciences.
During the conference, the experts have reached a consensus that ASEAN countries wants to maintain regional stability, and the effects of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict mostly embodies itself in the region via inflation, major disruption in global supply chain, increase in energy prices and other predominantly economic areas. Regarding national security, the current discourse prevalent in the Asia-Pacific mainly worries that the Russo-Ukrainian conflict will possibly encourage the proliferation of nuclear weapons, arms race and other negative impact. Other than this, it is safe to say that overall, the Russo-Ukrainian conflict does not have a significant impact on the national security of the ASEAN countries. Furthermore, ASEAN countries are committed to protect the independence of their foreign policy and do not believe that China will be an aggressor like Russia - a propaganda which was promoted by the West. Consequently, ASEAN countries do not feel that China has suddenly become a threat to their national security. Some experts have also pointed out that, the arrogance exhibited by the European countries towards the Asian countries will only push their once allies away from them. Lastly, the experts also unanimously expressed their belief that most countries of the Asia-Pacific still wants the United States to help them maintain regional stability.