Allan Gyngell Australia contests for South-East Asia

15 - July 2022

Our Unstable Neighbourhood

The Contest for South-East Asia

https://www.australianforeignaffairs.com/essay/2022/07/our-unstable-neighbourhood

“If Australia's primary strategic objective in South-East Asia is to build coalitions against China, it will be disappointed.”          ---- ALLAN GYNGELL

The fifteenth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines the challenges confronting South-East Asia as it finds itself at the epicentre of the rivalry between the United States and China.

Our Unstable Neighbourhood looks at the fragile state of democracy and the growing threat of instability in the region, as well as the risks for Australia as it navigates ties with nations which have vastly differing interests and outlooks.

• Allan Gyngell reviews Australia's diplomacy in the region and puts a case for a new kind of statecraft.
• Sebastian Strangio explores the increasing influence of China in South-East Asia.
• Nicole Curato looks at the Marcos comeback in the Philippines and what it reveals about attitudes towards democracy in South-East Asian countries.
• Kishore Mahbubani explains how South-East Asia views China differently to Australia and advocates for Australia to change its course.
• Sheila Fitzpatrick examines the war in Ukraine and why the road to peace is not straightforward.
• Thom Woodroofe calls on Australia to bid to host the next major UN climate conference in 2025.
• PLUS Correspondence on AFA14: The Taiwan Choice from Lai I-Chung, John Lee, Derek McDougall and more.

Allan Gyngell, Honorary Professor of Public Policy

Australia national University

 

https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/visitors/allan-gyngell

 

Allan Gyngell

[e-mail]

 

Profile

Allan Gyngell is Director of the Crawford Australian Leadership Forum and an Adjunct Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy.

He was the Director-General of the Australian Office of National Assessments (ONA) from 2009 to 2013.

Before his appointment to ONA, Mr Gyngell was the founding Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy (2003-09) in Sydney. He has a wide background in international policymaking and analysis and has written and spoken extensively on Australian foreign policy, Asian regional relations and the development of global and regional institutions. He is co-author with Michael Wesley of Making Australian Foreign Policy (Cambridge University Press).

Between 1993 and 1996, he was Senior Advisor (International) to the Prime Minister, Paul Keating. He worked earlier in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and ONA. He served as an Australian diplomat in Rangoon, Singapore and Washington.

He was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2009 for service to international relations and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

He is a graduate in history and political science from the University of Melbourne.