Gregory Poling

Jan 10, 2025 | csis.org | Gregory Poling

Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the Philippines’ legal victory in the South China Sea. On July 12, 2016, five judges in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague tossed out much of Beijing’s claim to the disputed waterway. According to Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), their ruling was final and binding on both China and the Philippines. But after nearly a decade, China still refuses to comply, and the Philippines has little to show for its victory.

Oct 9, 2024 | csis.org | Gregory Poling

Laos is hosting a bevy of summits this week capping off the annual calendar of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The most prominent of these will be the ASEAN Summit, the U.S.-ASEAN leaders meeting (alongside summits between ASEAN and its other dialogue partners), and the East Asia Summit. The paramount leaders from the 10 ASEAN member states, along with future member Timor-Leste, will be there. So will the heads of state from most of the eight dialogue partners.

Sep 26, 2024 | csis.org | Gregory Poling

Southeast Asia is at the forefront of U.S.-China strategic competition and is increasingly vital to U.S. economic goals. As companies diversify supply chains from China, the Vietnamese economy has led the way in attracting new investment, while other Southeast Asian countries—especially Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—are working to grow their piece of the pie.

Aug 2, 2024 | csis.org | Christopher Johnstone |Gregory Poling |Japan Chair

This week U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken and U.S. secretary of defense Lloyd Austin visited Tokyo and Manila to meet with their counterparts in Japan and the Philippines—a rare sequence of “2+2” engagements on the ground in Asia. Both stops featured significant outcomes that signaled a period of historic strength among advanced alliances amid deep concern in Tokyo and Manila about a darkening regional security environment.

Jul 23, 2024 | csis.org | Gregory Poling

Nguyen Phu Trong, longtime general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, died on July 19 at age 80. His passing after more than a decade in power marks the beginning of a struggle for political preeminence that will continue at least until Vietnam’s 14th Party Congress, scheduled for 2026. The inner workings of the party are opaque to outsiders, which will fuel uncertainty and much gossip in the intervening year and a half.