The Cambodian Center for Regional Studies will organize a roundtable on “President Trump’s Foreign Policy Towards Southeast Asia”, which will be held on 1 September 2025, from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM at Sen Monorom Hall, Third Floor, Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (Toul Kork Campus). This event is supported by Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations, Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia.
This roundtable will be convened with the aim to discuss the overall engagement between the US and this part of the world. Experts in this roundtable will examine three dimensions of the engagement, including, (1) the US foreign policy towards Southeast Asia under the Second Trump Administration in the context of the Indo-Pacific Strategy; (2) How Southeast Asian countries see the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs? (3) Is China the preferred alternative to the United States for ASEAN? (4) Is Trump’s initiative in brokering the ceasefire agreement signaling the resetting the US-Cambodia relations?
Registration via: https://forms.gle/TZKzYB1JQsZB53cR9
| Program | |
|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:30 AM | Registration |
| 9:30 – 9:35 | Welcoming Remarks by Mr. Him Raksmey, Executive Director, CCRS |
| 9:35 – 9:40 | Group Photograph |
| 9:40 – 10:50 | Roundtable on “President Trump’s Foreign Policy Towards Southeast Asia” Esteemed Guest Speakers: 1. Dr. David Koh, Visiting Distinguished Senior Fellow, CCRS 2. Prof. Kevin Nauen, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations, Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia and Senior Fellow, CCRS 3. Mr. Peyson Hunt, Visiting Senior Fellow, CCRS Q&A and Open Discussion Session Moderated by Amb. Pou Sothirak, Distinguished Senior Advisor, CCRS |
| 10:50 – 11:00 | Closing Remarks by Amb. Pou Sothirak, Distinguished Senior Advisor, CCRS |
| 11:00 AM | End of the Public Lecture |
Short Biographies of Role Players
Ambassador Pou Sothirak is a retired academic currently serving as the Distinguished Senior Advisor to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies (CCRS). He was the Executive Director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace from May 2013 to August 2023. He was appointed as Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia from September 2013 to January 2014. He was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of the Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore from January 2009 to December 2012. He also served as Cambodian Ambassador to Japan from April 2005 to November 2008. He was elected Cambodian Member of Parliaments twice during the national general election in 1993 and 2003. He was appointed as Minister of Industry Mines and Energy of the Royal Government of Cambodia from 1993 to 1998. He has written extensively on various issues concerning the development of Cambodia and the region.
Dr. David Koh is Singapore Chinese born, bred, and based in Singapore until the VinUniversity called him to Hanoi. His work experience over the last thirty years included copy-writer in an advertising agency; as a medical records clerk; as a radiography stenographer; a prisons officer, a high school teacher, foreign service officer, researcher and research program lead, journal editor, conference/seminar organiser and moderator, university lecturer, World Bank & UNDP consultant, academic entrepreneur, Board Chairman of an NGO, Town Council member, and last but not least, a businessman. At the VinUniversity, David Koh teaches Politics & Social Change, and Global Perspectives. He currently is conducting research into foreigners
living in HCMC.
Prof. Kevin Nauen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies. He is the Dean of Social Sciences and International Relations at the Pannasastra University of Cambodia. He is also a lecturer on theories of international relations at the Royal Academy of Cambodia. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Southeast Asian Studies and holds an MA degree in government from the University of Essex, along with a BA degree with a double major in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Rochester. Since 2013 he has held the position of Senior Research Fellow at the Cambodian Institute of Cooperation and Peace, where he works on projects related to Responsibility to Protect, Security Sector Reform, and regional integration. He also serves as Associate Editor of the Insight research journal of the Royal University of Cambodia.
Mr. Peyson Hunt is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies (CCRS), where he co-authors research papers, writes articles, and helps organizes public symposiums on Southeast Asian security, U.S.–Cambodia relations, and ASEAN’s role in a multipolar world. His work includes a co-authored article on Southeast Asia and the Trump presidency published in the South China Morning Post, multiple published analyses on the Myanmar civil war, and a joint study on Vietnam’s and China’s strategic infrastructure in the South China Sea with relevance for Philippine policy. He has served as an editor for book projects and special edition journal publications, and contributed to CCRS’s Cambodia–ASEAN at 25 project exploring future U.S.–Cambodia cooperation. Peyson holds a Master’s in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from Hampden-Sydney College.