Last November 25, Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress, with the support of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Regional Programme, organized an International Workshop on Southeast Asian Regional Cooperation Amidst Great Power Competition. The workshop discussed how the regional security and economic environment of Southeast Asia is changing as a consequence of these developments, and the options and scenarios for regional cooperation facing the governments and peoples of ASEAN. The event also marked Pathways’ chairmanship this year of the ASEAN-Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN-ISIS) network.

Pathways fellows Julio Amador III, Dr. Charmaine Willoughby, and Dr. Aries Arugay present findings of their paper “Quad to Zero? Filipino Perceptions of the Quad, the Indo-Pacific, and the Alliance System”.

Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation Inc. fellows Dr. Charmaine Willoughby, Dr. Aries Arugay and Mr. Julio Amador III presented findings of their latest paper to policy makers,  academics, and members of the diplomatic corps last September 20, 2019 at the Zuellig Building Makati City.

The paper is based on an online survey of 228 Filipino strategic thinkers, scholars, and practitioners on their perceptions of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Japan, Australia, India, and the United States, specifically about its relevance and possible role in national and regional security policy. 

Pathways and the delegation from CIIS.

On 9 September 2019, a delegation from the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) headed by Dr. Wang Youming visited the Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation Inc. (APPFI) for an exchange of views on Philippine-China relations.

Three years since the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia signed the Trilateral Cooperative Arrangement (TCA) in response to a spike in kidnap-for-ransom incidents in the Sulu and Celebes Seas, a relative calm has returned to the waters straddling the borders between the three countries. Although the agreement is seen to be contributing to maritime security in the region, there are also some questions about its sustainability and significance.

Manila-based Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, Inc. (APPFI) and the Philippine office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), organized a Regional Forum on Maritime Security Cooperation in the Sulu - Celebes Seas, with a particular focus on the role that the TCA has played in ensuring peace and stability in the area. With the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Philippines, the forum was held in New World Manila Bay Hotel on September 2 and 3.