With new elections and governance challenges in Indonesia and Thailand, the Chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) returning to Thailand, and the region’s trade architecture in flux, there are numerous issues facing South East Asia in 2020.

How do the South East Asian countries address the internal ASEAN challenges as well as comprehensively addressing the external challenges facing the region? How will ASEAN best position itself to gain the most benefit for the region?

Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak is the Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS) and Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

He has authored a wide range of articles, books, book chapters, and more than 800 op-eds in news outlets such as The Bangkok Post, The Straits Times, Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post, International New York Times, Project Syndicate, Financial Times, and his comments and views are frequently quoted in international and local media, such as CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Aljazeera, Channel News Asia, and NHK. Thitinan has worked for The BBC World Service, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and Gerson Lehrman Group.