Asia Rising

Episodes

• 
  Interview: Cyber Accountability in Southeast Asia 14.08.2026 28m

  Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing digital regions in the world, with an economy projected to exceed $300 billion in gross merchandise value and over 200 million internet users. But that digital growth is outpacing the legal frameworks, institutional capacity, and cybersecurity architecture needed to govern it. And with the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence accelerating both the sophistication of cyber threats and the difficulty of holding anyone accountable the stakes have never been higher. Guest: Dr Mark Manantan (Research Fellow at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Recorded on 15th July, 2026.
• 
  Event: Australia's Submarine Cable Challenge 11.08.2026 52m

  “The seabed is becoming a battlefield,” Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles warned at the Shangri-La Dialogue in May, and “we have been slow – collectively slow – to recognise [submarine cables] as the strategic targets they have become.” Some 16 privately operated submarine cables carry around 99 per cent of Australia’s international data – the financial transactions, government communications and cloud services on which the country’s economy and security depend. Recent incidents in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan suggest that state actors are actively probing this infrastructure, and history suggests Australia’s cables would be among the first targets in any regional conflict. Yet submarine cables barely rate a mention in Australia’s key strategic documents, responsibilities are fragmented across Commonwealth agencies, and these agencies have no means of ensuring priority repairs even in a national emergency. What must Australia do to secure its submarine cable network? And how can it seize the opportunity to become an Indo-Pacific preferred cable hub? A La Trobe Centre for Global Security event, co-hosted with AIIA Victoria and the Australia India Institute. The Melbourne launch of Connected & Protected: Building Australia’s Submarine Cable Resilience, the most comprehensive assessment of Australia’s submarine cable network to date, and Dr Bashfield’s newly published short book Submarine Cables (Cambridge University Press, 2026) Speakers: Dr David Brewster (ANU National Security College) Dr Samuel Bashfield (La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Recorded on 10th August, 2026.
• 
  Event: Screening South Asia: Cultural Bridge, Critical Lens 11.08.2026 55m

  South Asian cinema shapes how millions of people around the world encounter the region’s cultures, languages, and identities. For many, film provides a gateway to South Asian languages and literature, and to cultural conversations that cross national, regional, and diasporic borders. But what does South Asian cinema say about the societies it represents? Beneath the spectacle, song, and romance, filmmakers across the region - including those working within Bollywood - have long grappled with questions of gender, caste, ethnicity, class, beauty, and skin colour. How do these tensions sit alongside cinema’s power to foster cross-cultural empathy and identification? And what can film reveal about the complexity and diversity within South Asian cultures themselves? Co-presented by La Trobe Asia and the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, this event brings together researchers and practitioners to explore South Asian cinema as both a cultural bridge and a critical lens. Panel: Dr Ian Woolford (Hindi Studies, La Trobe University) Dr Divya Rama Gopalakrishnan (History, La Trobe University) Dr Phebyn Joseph (Hindi Studies, La Trobe University) MJ Bently (Partnerships Manager, Indian Film Festival in Melbourne) Matt Smith (La Trobe Asia) Recorded on 7th August, 2026.
• 
  Event: Creeping Censorship in Asian Media 07.08.2026 58m

  From digital regulation and political pressure to economic influence and self-censorship, media freedom in Asia is being shaped by a range of subtle and evolving constraints. Rather than outright bans on reporting, many observers point to a process of “creeping censorship”—the gradual narrowing of space for independent journalism and public debate. How are these pressures playing out across Asia? What do they mean for journalists and media organisations? How are the changing political, technological, and economic realities reshaping the region’s information environment? Panel: Dr Lupita Wijaya (Research Fellow, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Dr Nasya Bahfen (Senior Lecturer, Journalism, La Trobe University) Phebyn Joseph (Hindi Lecturer, Language Studies, La Trobe University) Recorded on 30th July, 2026
• 
  Interview: Australia's Submarine Cable Security 27.07.2026 23m

  Almost every email you send, every video you stream, and every financial transaction you make travels not through satellites, but through a vast network of cables lying on the ocean floor. Submarine cables are the invisible capillaries of the global internet — and increasingly, they are at the centre of great power competition in the Indo-Pacific. Guest: Dr Samuel Bashfield (Research Fellow at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security) COME TO OUR EVENT: Is the Seabed a ‘Battlefield’? Australia’s Submarine Cable Challenge Monday 10th August, 6:00 - 7:00PM AEST 356 Collins St, Melbourne Register on the AIIA Vic website Recorded on 17th June, 2026.
• 
  Event: The Real Costs of AUKUS 21.07.2026 1h

  The AUKUS agreement between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom is set to reshape Australia’s military and strategic future through the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. But the implications of AUKUS extend far beyond defence, with significant consequences for Australia’s economy, diplomacy, industry, and foreign relations. As the project moves from ambition to implementation, important questions remain. Can Australia deliver an undertaking of this scale and complexity? What are the costs, risks, and strategic trade-offs involved? And if the project does not proceed according to plan, what alternatives are available? The launch of the new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs. Panel: Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Hon Peter Khalil MP (Assistant Minister for Defence, Australia) Assoc. Professor Yee-Fui Ng (Director (Higher Degree by Research), Monash University) Dr Samuel Bashfield (Research Fellow, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Recorded on 20th July, 2026.
• 
  Interview: US Engagement With Pacific Island Nations 06.07.2026 20m

  The United States has, over recent years, significantly deepened its engagement with Pacific Island nations — reopening embassies, renewing funding compacts, and positioning itself as a committed partner in a region of growing strategic importance. Since the return of the Trump administration in January 2025, questions have been raised about the continuity of that commitment, and what a changed US posture means for the Pacific and for the countries that share an interest in its stability. Guest: Professor Alan Tidwell (Director of the Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Georgetown University) Recorded on 28th May, 2026.
• 
  Interview: The Continued Repression of Uyghurs 12.06.2026 19m

  An escalating crisis faces the Uyghur in China. The newly enacted Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress legalises forced assimilation, erases linguistic rights, and expands state surveillance. It provides a permanent legal framework for the ongoing campaign of mass re-education camps, long-term imprisonment, and cultural erasure of China’s minorities. Guest: Yalkun Uluyol (China Researcher, Human Rights Watch) Host: Emeritus Professor James Leibold (Asian Studies, La Trobe University) Recorded 22nd May, 2026.
• 
  Interview: Pragmatic China and Multilateral Organisations 30.05.2026 25m

  Over the past decade, China has launched a remarkable number of multilateral initiatives — from the Belt and Road to BRICS to a suite of so-called Global Initiatives covering development, security, and civilisation. Western analysts have tended to read these as evidence of a Chinese project to displace the existing international order. Guest: Dr Joel Ng (Senior Fellow and Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore) Book: The Dragon’s Emerging Order: Sinocentric Multilateralism and Global Responses Recorded on 27th March, 2026.
• 
  Event: Navigating Conflict in a Contested World 12.05.2026 1h

  In an increasingly contested global environment, the international community faces growing pressure to respond to current and emerging wars and instability across the full conflict spectrum: from prevention, to managing active conflict, to post-conflict reconstruction. Effective conflict prevention requires states to draw on a broad toolkit of policy levers, including security and defence initiatives, development assistance, and diplomatic engagement. Yet in practice, these tools are often applied unevenly. Focusing on contemporary dynamics in Asia, the Pacific, and the Middle East, this discussion asks: What are the conflicts that Australia should be alert to? And how can diverse levers of statecraft be deployed to prevent and address conflict? A La Trobe Centre for Global Security / Centre for Human Security and Social Change event Panel: Dr Lisa Denney (Director, Centre for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University) Anna Naupa (Research and Engagement Fellow, Pacific Security College, Australian National University) Professor Michelle Burgis-Kasthala (La Trobe Law School) Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Recorded on 4th May, 2026
• 
  Event: When Engineers Shape Asia 05.05.2026 57m

  Over the past two decades, China and India have undergone one of the most dramatic expansions of engineering education in human history. In 2020 alone, India awarded 1.5 million science and engineering degrees, and China awarded 2 million. In China, engineering now makes up a third of all university degrees, and this rate far outpaces the United States. China and India are producing engineers at an unprecedented scale, with significant implications for governance, social mobility, gender equity, and the labour market. What does it mean for a society when efficiency and measurable outcomes become the dominant lens through which its most educated citizens — and its leaders — see the world? Do you need an “engineered” society to replicate China’s economic growth? And how might India’s path differ? A webinar from La Trobe Asia and the Asian Smart Cities Research and Innovation Network (ASCRIN) at La Trobe University. Speakers: Dr Trissia Wijaya (McKenzie Research Fellow, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne) Abhiram Haridas (PhD Candidate, ASCRIN and IIT (Kanpur) Akkapeddi Rama Krishna Satya Srinivas (Graduate researcher, ASCRIN and IIT (Kanpur)) Dr Ruth Gamble (Director, La Trobe Asia)(Chair) Recorded on 28th April, 2026.
• 
  Interview: Preserving Tibetan Culture and Knowledge 01.05.2026 19m

  Tibet’s story is one of the most profound of the modern era — a civilisation forced into exile, carrying its language, philosophy, and sacred texts across the Himalayas in an act of collective survival. Preserving that heritage, while also engaging the modern world, has become one of the defining challenges for Tibetans in diaspora. Few people embody that challenge more personally than Geshe Lhakdor. Born in Tibet in 1956, he fled to India as a child, went on to spend sixteen years as the personal English translator and religious assistant to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and has since become the Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala — one of the most important repositories of Tibetan knowledge in the world. Guest: Geshe Lhakdor Recorded 23rd March, 2024
• 
  Interview: Ethnic Unity and Assimilation in China 02.04.2026 21m

  China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress mandates Mandarin as the language of education, encourages the breakup of minority-majority neighbourhoods, and criminalises expressions of ethnic separatism — including by Chinese citizens living abroad. Critics say it formalises a decades-long push toward assimilation that has already reshaped the lives of Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian and other minority communities. Guest: Professor James Leibold (Professor of Politics and Asian Studies, La Trobe University). Recorded on 25th March, 2026.
• 
  Book Launch: The Dragon's Emerging Order: Sino-centric Multilateralism and Global Responses 30.03.2026 59m

  China’s rise is often framed as a challenge to the Western-led international order, with attention focused on how Beijing works within — and pushes back against — liberal institutions. Yet a more consequential shift is underway. China is increasingly shaping global politics through new, Sino-centric forms of multilateralism, building parallel forums that operate alongside, and sometimes beyond, existing institutions. What is driving this strategy, and how do these new arrangements function in practice? How is China combining hard and soft power to expand its influence? And what does the spread of Sino-centric multilateralism mean for the future of global order? The Melbourne launch of The Dragon’s Emerging Order: Sino-centric Multilateralism and Global Responses, with editor Joel Ng. Panel: Dr Joel Ng (Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Dr Alan Chong (Senior Fellow, Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Dr Su-Hyun Lee (Senior Associate Fellow, Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Professor Nick Bisley (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), La Trobe University) Dr Mark Manantan (Research Fellow, La Trobe Centre for Global Security)(chair) Recorded on 27th March, 2026.
• 
  Event: Healthy Ageing in Asia-Pacific 25.03.2026 48m

  Across the Asia-Pacific, people are living longer than ever before. From rapidly ageing societies in Northeast Asia to younger but fast-transitioning populations in South and Southeast Asia, countries across the region are confronting the social and economic implications of longer lives. These shifts are generating diverse challenges — and innovative responses — as governments, communities and families rethink how to support ageing populations. What does it mean to age well in societies undergoing rapid economic and social change? How can families, communities and health systems across Asia better support people to remain healthy and independent for longer? And what innovations — social, medical or technological — are emerging in the region to help societies adapt to this new demographic reality? Panel: Professor George Liu (Associate Dean (Partnerships International), School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University) Professor Irene Blackberry (John Richards Chair and Director, Care Economy Research Institute, La Trobe University) - Dr Hiromasa Okayasu (Director of Division of Healthy Environments and Populations. World Health Organization) - Professor Bianca Brijnath (Health Communication in Society at La Trobe University) (Chair) Recorded on 23rd March, 2026.
• 
  Interview: How the Media Shapes Territory in Asia 19.03.2026 20m

  Traditional security debates focus on maps, borders, naval deployments, and treaties. But increasingly, territory in Asia is also constructed through narratives, media coverage, digital platforms, and public emotion. Journalists are not just observers — they help shape how territory, sovereignty, and security are understood by the public and policymakers. Guest: Dr Lupita Wijaya (Research Fellow at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security and Co-ordinator of the Southeast Asia Maritime Media Visits Project). Recorded 16th March, 2026.
• 
  Book Launch: Asian Crucible: Globalization, Geopolitics and the Contest for the Future 12.03.2026 58m

  Asia’s modern resurgence has transformed the global economy, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty through globalization, supply chains and market integration. Yet this success has also generated new geopolitical rivalries and nationalist tensions, placing the region at a critical crossroads between continued prosperity and growing risk. What powered Asia’s economic transformation — and are globalization and supply chains now becoming sources of vulnerability rather than strength? How are intensifying geopolitics and nationalism reshaping the region’s future? And what leadership and policy choices will determine whether Asia’s next chapter is defined by cooperation or conflict? The launch of Asian Crucible: Globalization, Geopolitics and the Contest for the Future by Nick Bisley. Speakers: Professor Nick Bisley (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), La Trobe University) Dan Flitton (Managing Editor, Lowy Interpreter) The Hon. John Brumby AO (Chancellor, La Trobe University) Dr Ruth Gamble (Director, La Trobe Asia) Recorded 5th March, 2026.
• 
  Interview: Land and Identity in Nagaland 04.03.2026 27m

  The far north-eastern Indian state of Nagaland has a distinct history, and the Naga communities who call it home face a range of complex dilemmas. Preserving cultural rights and traditions within the framework of the Indian state presents ongoing challenges — particularly in relation to the intricacies of land ownership and governance. Guest: Menokhono Sakhrie (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tata Institute of Social Sciences) Host: Dr Ruth Gamble (Director, La Trobe Asia) Recorded 26th November, 2025.
• 
  Event: Who Won? Trade Wars and Australia 02.03.2026 1h 4m

  The global trading system is under growing strain. Security risks are increasing, free trade is in decline, and a new economic order is emerging in which nations increasingly view trade as a tool for gaining strategic and political advantage. Long-standing assumptions about openness, efficiency, and interdependence are being challenged by rising protectionism and geopolitical rivalry. How will changes in trade impact global supply chains? How can Australia respond as trade becomes weaponised? What role can diplomacy play in rescuing global trade? The launch of the new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs. Panel: Professor Shiro Armstrong (Director, Australia-Japan Research Centre, Australian National University) Melissa Conley Tyler (Executive Director, Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue) Professor Nick Bisley (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), La Trobe University) Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) (Chair) Recorded 26th February, 2026.
• 
  Event: Enhancing Australia-Korea Cooperation in Contested Asia 20.02.2026 58m

  Despite differing geographies and security pressures, Australia and the Republic of Korea face shared challenges arising from intensifying strategic competition and growing regional uncertainty. Both countries have an opportunity for a closer collaboration to promote regional stability and help shape a resilient multipolar order. How can Australia and Korea move beyond defence-industrial cooperation to advance a broader security partnership? Where do opportunities for practical, mutually beneficial collaboration lie? And how can institutional cooperation be strengthened to give the Australia–Korea relationship greater strategic depth and durability? Read the issue of the La Trobe Asia Brief here. Panel: Mr Jimin Kim (Charge d’affaires, Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Australia)(introduction) Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Associate Professor Danielle Chubb (International Relations, Deakin University) Professor Sungyong Lee (Peace and Conflict Studies, Soka University) Dr Ruth Gamble (Director, La Trobe Asia) (Chair) Recorded on 19th February, 2026.