A hectic schedule was what APPFI President Prof Aileen Baviera prepared for when she left for New Zealand at the end of August. The main event was the first Conference on National Security organized by Massey University on August 30, where she presented her analysis of geopolitics in the South China Sea. Prior to that, host Rouben Azizian of Massey University arranged for a roundtable chaired by distinguished professor Nicholas Tarling at the Asia Institute of Auckland University, at which three international speakers including Prof Greg Barton of Deakin University, Dr Tang Lan of China Institutes for Contemporary International Relations, and Dr Baviera of the U.P and APPFI, were invited to share thoughts on ISIS and radicalization, cybercrime, and the South China Sea respectively. From Auckland, the speakers flew to Wellington where Prof David Capie hosted a similar roundtable organized by Asia New Zealand Foundation and the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, held at Victoria University of Wellington.
A second leg of the trip was to Canberra, Australia, where Dr. Baviera delivered a presentation titled “Exploring Post-Arbitration Challenges for the Duterte Administration” at the Philippine Update Conference, which was held at the Australian National University on September 2 and 3.