ASOG holds webinar on issues on regional security in light of COVID-19 pandemic

Last June 29, 2020, the Ateneo School of Government held a webinar titled, “The Regional Strategic Environment: Developments and Updates.” Moderated by Ateneo Policy Center Senior Research Fellow Julio S. Amador III, the webinar discussed persisting regional issues while being confronted with the COVID-19 global pandemic. The webinar featured two prominent international relations scholars and observers of the ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific.

Dr. Euan Graham, Senior Fellow for Asia Pacific Security at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, discussed the significance of China’s recent activities to the over-all strategic geopolitics of Indo-Pacific. He argued that the pandemic has accelerated the already preexisting strategic issues in the South and Southeast Asia. A prominent evidence of this, he argues, is the worsening of U.S.-China relations as it enters a hostile phase.

Dr. Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby, Associate Professor at the De La Salle University-Manila, likewise shares similar concerns over the uncertainty brought about by the pandemic. While the pandemic exposes the arbitrary division between traditional and nontraditional security issues, there are areas of concerns only nontraditional approaches could mitigate. These include biosecurity and food security. The pandemic also burdened ill-equipped health sectors as well as the agriculture sector that if left unattended could potentially lead to supply chain disruptions. All these suggest that relying on a military response alone is ineffective in the long run and that country responses should slowly move towards a developmental and nontraditional response as the pandemic persist.

The webinar concluded with the insight that while predicting the post-pandemic international order is futile, the interregnum should be properly leveraged by the Philippines to allow for greater inter-state cooperation as well as intensive bilateralism with key stakeholders in the region.
 
The webinar was attended by participants from the military, diplomatic community, national and local government, academe, and media.