Panelists

Blake Herzinger is Microsoft’s Asia Defense and National Security Government Affairs Lead, based in Singapore. He works with governments and national security institutions across the Indo-Pacific on defense modernization, cybersecurity, cloud adoption, and the policies required to employ emerging technologies securely and effectively.Before joining Microsoft, Blake held senior regional policy and strategy roles at Citi and Twitter and previously worked as a defense consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. His career has spanned government, technology, financial services, and national security, with a consistent focus on the strategic and policy challenges shaping the Indo-Pacific.Blake is also a Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve and a Foreign Area Officer specializing in the Indo-Pacific. He previously served for ten years on active duty as a naval intelligence officer, including operational assignments supporting maritime security, antisubmarine warfare, and combat operations in Libya. He later led a U.S. Navy intelligence and unmanned aviation detachment deployed aboard USS Lewis B. Puller in the Middle East. His reserve assignments have included roles with U.S. Pacific Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Korea.A frequent writer and commentator on Asian security, maritime strategy, alliances, and defense technology, Blake has published with leading policy institutions in the United States, Australia, Japan, and Singapore. He is the author of Managing the Unbreakable Alliance, a practical guide to the U.S.–Australia alliance, a co-author of Carrier Killer, and regularly contributes to public discussions on regional security and the future of defense.

Dr. Chiew-Ping Hoo is Co-founder and Senior Fellow of the East Asian International Relations Caucus (EAIR Caucus) in Malaysia and a Senior Research Fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS). She is concurrently a member of the Asia Pacific Nuclear Advisory Panel (APNAP) at the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), an expert roster of the Open Nuclear Network (ONN), and an Editorial Board Member for the Routledge IR and Politics in Asia book series. Dr. Hoo is recognized for her expertise on the Korean Peninsula, Malaysia’s foreign and defense policies, and regional nuclear-strategic issues. Her work on maritime security focuses specifically on Malaysia’s strategic posture regarding the South China Sea and the intersection between regional nuclear energy development and the maritime domain. Additionally, her broader research covers conflict management and maritime disputes among China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as the evolution of naval cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific. Currently, she is examining nuclear-maritime security linkages across the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan Strait, and maritime Southeast Asia. She received her PhD in Politics and International Relations from La Trobe University, Australia.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar is an Academician of the Social Science Commission of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI), a Research Professor at the Research Center for Politics, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Habibie Center (THC) and Co-Founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI). In 2001-2010 she was Deputy for Social Sciences and Humanities, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). In 2010-2017 Dewi served as a Deputy Secretary to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. She wass the Pok Rafeah Chairholder at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, National University of Malaysia (IKMAS UKM) (April to October 2025). Dewi was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), NTU, Singapore (August 2017- July 2018), the Kippenberger Visiting Chair at Victoria University, Wellington (October-November 2018) and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University in 2007. She has written widely on Indonesia’s foreign policy, and ASEAN regional political and security issues. Dewi sits and has sat in a number of national and international advisory boards i.a. Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) in 2019-2025, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in 2010-2020, and the UN Secretary General Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters in 2008-2012. She obtained her PhD from Monash University, Melbourne, while her M.A. and B.A. (Hons) were from SOAS, University of London.

Shen Dingli is a member of Grandview Institution’s Academic Committee, and its Director of Center for American Studies. He is a professor emeritus and former executive dean at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, and former Director of Center for American Studies. He is also an Honorary Visiting Professor of Washington University in St. Louis. He has taught international security, China-US relations, China’s foreign and defense policy in China, the US and the “Semester at Sea” Program. His research and publication covers China-US security relations, regional security and international strategy, arms control and nonproliferation, foreign and defense policy of China and the US etc. He was Vice President of Chinese Association of South Asian Studies, Shanghai Association of International Studies, Shanghai Association of International Strategic Studies, Shanghai Association of American Studies, Shanghai UN Research Association, and Shanghai Public Policy Research Association. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Fudan in 1989 and did post-doc in arms control at Princeton University from 1989-1991. He was an Eisenhower Fellow in 1996, and advised in 2002 the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for his strategic planning of second term. He is on the Global Council of the Asia Society, and on the International Advisory Board of Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear-Nonproliferation and Disarmament. He has been appointed by both Shanghai and Hangzhou Municipality as Convention Ambassador, respectively. He has co-edited 17 books and published over 2,500 papers and articles worldwide.

GENERAL EMMANUEL T BAUTISTA (Ret.) was the 44th Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from January 2013 to July 2014. Shortly after retirement from the military service, he was appointed Undersecretary at the Office of the President, Malacañang from 01 September 2014 to 22 June 2020. As Undersecretary, he served as Executive Director of the Cabinet Cluster for Security, Justice, and Peace and was concurrently the Executive Director of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea and Head of the National Task Force on the Whole of Nation Initiative. He was also part of the team that represented the Philippines in the South China Sea arbitration case filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.Currently, he is a Managing Director at the Ayala Corporation, President of the Hero Foundation, member of the WPS (We Protect Our Seas) Philippine Advisory Board, and member of the board of trustees of the Foundation for National Interest. He is also a lecturer at the Development Academy of the Philippines, the National Defense College of the Philippines and the Ateneo School of Government.General Bautista is a graduate of Philippine Military Academy, Class of 1981, and is one of its outstanding alumni awardees; and of the University of the Philippines (U.P.), Diliman where he earned a Masters in Business Administration degree and was a recipient of the U.P. Alumni Association distinguished alumni award for peace and social cohesion.

Hu Bo is research professor & director of the Center for Maritime Strategy Studies, Peking University, and director of SCSPI. He received his PhD in Politics from the School of International Studies at Peking University and has extensive experience in policy analysis and consulting. His areas of specialization include maritime strategy, international security, and Chinese diplomacy. He has written three books and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters on topics related to China’s maritime strategy and policy. His most recent books published are as follows: China’s Maritime Power in 2049 (China Development Press, 2015), China’s Sea Power in the Post Mahan Era (Ocean Press, 2018), and Chinese Maritime Power in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2019).

RADM. Jay Tristan Tarriela is currently serving as the Chief of Coast Guard Staff for Human Resource Management (CG-1) and is also the Adviser to the Commandant on Maritime Security Affairs, as well as the Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea. He successfully completed his Ph.D. at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) under the GRIPS Global Governance (G-cube) Program in Tokyo as a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ASEAN Public Policy Leadership scholar. He has participated in various military and coast guard training programs both in his home country and internationally. Dr. Tarriela holds a graduate degree from the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Graduate School and a Master of Policy Studies from GRIPS and the Japan Coast Guard Academy. He was among the first batch of participants in the Maritime Safety and Security Program jointly launched by both institutions in 2016.Furthermore, Dr. Tarriela was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of the 2021 Pacific Forum US-Philippines’ Next Generation Leaders’ Initiative. Additionally, he has been chosen as a fellow for the 2021 East-West Center US-Philippines Alliance Fellowship in Washington, DC, USA. Dr. Tarriela has authored opinion-editorial articles for renowned publications such as The Diplomat, The National Interest, and Analyzing War. He also serves as a visiting lecturer at the National Defense College of the Philippines, the Philippine Public Safety College, Ateneo De Manila University School of Government, and the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Graduate School.

Dr. Jeffrey Ordaniel is President and CEO of WPS Foundation, a Manila-based maritime security research and policy think tank. Concurrently, he is also Associate Professor of International Security Studies at Tokyo International University (TIU) in Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and specializes in the study of offshore territorial and maritime entitlement disputes in Asia. His teaching and research revolve around maritime security and ocean governance, ASEAN regionalism, and broadly, U.S. alliances and engagements in the Indo-Pacific. From 2016 to 2019, he was based in Honolulu and was the holder of the endowed Admiral Joe Vasey Fellowship at the Pacific Forum. His current research on maritime security in Asia is funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 2020-2025.

Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma is a Researcher at Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Jakarta, Indonesia. With CSIS, he has worked on a range of research topics on the intersection between geopolitics, sovereignty, and humanitarian issues, including the security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific, the role of ASEAN in regional geopolitics and humanitarian issues, Indonesian foreign policy, and Indonesia’s maritime security. He graduated Master of Science from University of Bristol, United Kingdom.

Masakazu Takamori is the Founder, President and CEO of Japan Nexus Intelligence (JNI), a Tokyo-based intelligence and strategic advisory firm. He specializes in foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), cognitive warfare, information risk, and strategic communications. JNI uses open-source intelligence to identify hostile narratives and influence operations, assess their risks, and help governments and organizations develop practical responses. Takamori’s work examines how information operations can shape public perceptions, weaken trust in institutions, and affect responses to geopolitical coercion, including in the Indo-Pacific. Before founding JNI, he led strategic planning and integrated communications initiatives at Dentsu, advising public- and private-sector organizations on crisis management and public affairs. He engages with policymakers, researchers, and security practitioners across the region on information integrity and resilience. At the Manila Dialogue, he brings a Japanese perspective on the information dimension of regional security and the challenges of countering malign influence while maintaining public trust.

Col Nizam is former fighter pilot flew F/A-18D aircraft with Royal Malaysian Air Force. Served as Director of Strategic Planning at Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) HQ and Director of Operation at Royal Malaysian Air Force Operational and Strategic think tank. Currently serve as Director of Training at MAF Training Education and Doctrine HQ at Putrajaya.

Ray Powell is the Founder and Executive Director of the SeaLight Foundation, a California-based maritime transparency non-profit launched in 2023 with the help of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. SeaLight uses satellite imagery, commercially available vessel-tracking data and open-source research to expose maritime gray-zone activity, particularly in East Asia. Ray is also co-host, with former senior U.S. diplomat Jim Carouso, of the weekly podcast Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific? Drawing on their decades of military and diplomatic experience, they examine the geopolitical, economic, security, and cultural forces shaping the Indo-Pacific through conversations with regional experts and practitioners. The podcast offers a practical lens on why developments in this pivotal region matter to audiences beyond it. A Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute Non-Resident Fellow, Ray co-authored the study Game Changer: The Philippines’ Assertive Transparency Campaign—How the Philippines Rewrote the Counter Gray Zone Playbook in 2023. The study examines how Manila uses timely, credible public information to build national resilience and international support, while also raising reputational costs for gray-zone aggressors. A retired U.S. Air Force officer, Ray served for 35 years, including assignments in the Philippines, Japan, Germany and Qatar; combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; and three tours in the Pentagon. He served as U.S. Air Attaché to Vietnam from 2013 to 2016 and as Senior Defense Official/Defense Attaché to Australia from 2017 to 2020. Ray was a 2021 Fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute.

Prof Dr Salawati Mat Basir is a Professor at the Centre of International Law and Siyar, Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Prior to joining UKM, Prof Dr Salawati held several professional positions including practising Advocate & Solicitor, legal officer at multinational company and post conflict officer with United Nation on Trade and Development UNCTAD. Prof Dr Salawati held LLB, LLM and PhD from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Her research focuses on international law and maritime security, South China Sea conflict, globalisation and regional security, and defence policy. She currently is the Fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS), Ministry of Defence Malaysia and also Senior Research Fellow at the Sea Power Centre, Royal Malaysian Navy.

Susannah Patton is a Nonresident fellow at the Lowy Institute and Director, Asia Engagement at RMIT University in Melbourne. From 2022 to 2026 Susannah led the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Program and was responsible for the Asia Power Index. Her research interests include geopolitical trends in Southeast Asia and Australian foreign policy, especially relations with Southeast Asia. Susannah has contributed commentary to Australian and international media outlets, and her writing has been published in leading outlets including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and the Lowy Interpreter. Earlier in her career Susannah worked in various Southeast Asia-focused positions in the Australian government. including as a Senior Analyst in the Office of National Intelligence and as a diplomat in the Australian Embassy in Bangkok.

Dr. Tosh Minohara is Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, Kobe University. He received his B.A. in International Relations from University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. in Political Science and Diplomatic History from Kobe University. He is the founder and chairman of the Cabinet Office certified (nintei) nonprofit, Research Institute of Indo-Pacific Affairs (RIIPA). He also is senior advisor to KREAB Japan and lecturer on national security to the National Security Group of the Global Tekijuku, Kansai Association of Corporate Executives (Kansai Keizai Doyukai). He also served as an external advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), lecturer at both the Japan Maritime and Air Self-Defense Force (JMSDF/JASDF) Command and Staff Colleges, and has served three tours (2011, 2022, 2023) aboard the JMDF training squadron as an academic specialist. This March, he was appointed as the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Kosovo for Kansai.

Since he founded The Stratbase Group in 2004, Prof. Victor Andres "Dindo" Manhit has provided top-level strategic analysis and thought leadership on global issues in the Philippines.He is the President of Stratbase Institute, an independent, international think tank based in the Philippines. In the age of geopolitical uncertainties and technological advancements, Stratbase ADR Institute gives equal importance to the interdependent nature of states, sectors, and stakeholders for its strategic analyses and policy initiatives in a multi-polar world.As a public policy analyst and geo-strategist, he thinks beyond politics for his political risk assessment that is also data-driven. With his extensive experience in legislation and policy making including serving as Undersecretary of the Department of Education, Deputy Secretary of the Philippine Senate and being Chief of Staff of a Senate President, he continues to help Stratbase’s clients and partners understand the interplay between business and government and the impact of legislative, regulatory, and geo-politics on their strategic initiatives.Professor Manhit obtained his Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Bachelor’s Degree in Philippine Studies (Major in Political Science and History) from the University of the Philippines. A member of Phi Gamma Mu International Honors Society Beta Chapter.

Justice Antonio T. Carpio was sworn in as member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on October 26, 2001. He served in the Supreme Court for 18 years, retiring on October 25, 2019 upon reaching the compulsory retirement age of 70. Justice Carpio retired with a zero backlog of cases. Justice Carpio obtained his law degree from the College of Law of the University of the Philippines where he graduated valedictorian and cum laude in 1975. He was conferred a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, by the Ateneo de Davao University in 2009, by the University of the Philippines in 2020, and by the Ateneo de Manila University in 2021. On October 29, 2011, as Guest Speaker at the 50th Founding Anniversary of the Ateneo de Davao College of Law, Justice Carpio launched his advocacy to challenge the validity of China’s nine-dashed line before a tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ever since, he has been giving lectures all over the country on the invalidity of China’s nine-dashed line. In 2015, the Department of Foreign Affairs sponsored Justice Carpio on a world lecture tour on the West Philippine Sea dispute. Justice Carpio presented the Philippines’ perspective on the dispute before think-tanks and universities in 30 cities covering 17 countries. In May 2017, Justice Carpio published the book titled The South China Sea Dispute: Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea.

Ms. Atsuko Kanehara is the Research Director for the Canon Institute for International Studies and Senior Fellow for the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.  She was former Professor of International Law at Sophia University and former President of the Japanese Society of International Law.Member of the Governing Board of IMO International Maritime Law Institute.Concurrently, she is Policy Adviser for the Japan Coast Guard and member of the Committee on Submarine Cables and Pipelines under the International Law Association.She delivered lectures at The Hague Academy of International Law in 2017, entitled “Reassessment of the Acts of the State in the Law of State Responsibility―A Proposal of an Integrative Theoretical Flamework of the Law of State Responsibility to Effectively Cope with the Internationally Harmful Acts of Non-State Actors,” which was published in Recueils des cours, Vol. 399 (2019).Her principal recent publications in English are: “How to Ensure the Safety of the Japan Coast Guard While Maintaining Its Nature as A Police Organ When It Conducts Missions In Collaboration with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force under the Control Guidelines,” Japan Review, Vol 6, No. 2 (2024); “Refining Japan’s Integrative Position on the Territorial Sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands,” International Law Studies, Vol. 97 (2021); ”The Use of Force in Maritime Security and the Use of Arms in Law Enforcement under the Current Wide Understanding of Maritime Security,” Japan Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2019).

Dr. Chi-Ting Tsai received his J.S.D. from Cornell Law School in 2010. He is currently an Associate Professor of International Law in the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. He also serves as Director of the Center for China Studies at National Taiwan University. Dr. Tsai’s areas of specialization include maritime security, the law of the sea, marine policy, and international human rights. Over the past five years, he has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, both domestically and internationally, on topics related to the Law of the Sea, including East and South China Sea disputes, maritime governance, and BBNJ Agreement.Dr. Tsai’s recent research focuses on maritime domain awareness, maritime security and supply chains, transboundary marine protected areas, biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, maritime autonomous surface ships, and greenhouse gas reduction in shipping. In addition to these environmental and regulatory issues, he has conducted several research projects on submarine cables and marine scientific research. Beyond academic publications, Dr. Tsai regularly contributes policy commentaries for U.S. think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Global Taiwan Institute on topics concerning maritime security and lawfare. He was also a member of CSIS’s South China Sea Expert working group.

Cecilia "Ces" Victoria Oreña-Drilon is a Filipino broadcast journalist. She anchored news and public affairs programs for the News and Current Affairs division of ABS-CBN Corporation from 1989 to 2020. From 2018 to 2020, she also served as the division's Content Acquisition Head for the Lifestyle Ecosystem Group. Oreña-Drilon is currently a news anchor for The Big Story, the flagship nightly newscast of One News.

François-Xavier BONNET is a geographer, Research Associate at the Institute for Contemporary Southeast Asia (Irasec). As a UNESCO consultant, he has worked in Cambodia, among other places, on the production of geography textbooks. He lives in the Philippines and his research focuses on the geopolitics of the Philippines: Muslim terrorism and guerrilla warfare, the peace process in Mindanao on the one hand, and maritime disputes in the South China Sea and China's growing influence in the Philippines on the other. He has published, among others: “Geopolitics of Scarborough Shoal”, Les Notes de l’IRASEC n°14 - IRASEC’s Discussion Papers #14, 2012 https://irasec.com/Geopolitics-of-Scarborough-Shoal. This research will be updated in 2025. “Charting submarine routes in Southeast Asia”, Hérodote, n° 176, La Découverte, 1st Quarter 2020.

Jay L Batongbacal is a lawyer with degrees in Political Science and Law from the University of the Philippines, as well as Master of Marine Management and Doctor in the Science of Law, both from Dalhousie University (Canada). At present, he is a full Professor and chairs the Graduate Studies Program at the University of the Philippines College of Law, while also serving as Director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center and Chair of the LLM Program Committee. He has worked extensively on maritime affairs since 1997, carrying out research, consultancy work, and teaching, with numerous national and international publications to his credit. Dr. Batongbacal was legal advisor to the Philippines before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the International Maritime Organization. He has been included among the UNESCO/IOC List of Experts for UNCLOS Annex VIII Special Arbitration on Marine Scientific Research. In 2022, Dr. Batongbacal completed a Taiwan Fellowship Program at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan and a Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Fellowship at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island, USA. His current research interests include the Law of the Sea, Aerospace Law, and the Law of Naval Warfare.

Marites Dañguilan Vitug, a leading Filipino investigative journalist and author, is editor-at-large for Rappler. She writes on foreign affairs, security, and politics. She has written nine books, the latest of which is Unrequited Love: Duterte’s Embrace of China co-written with Camille Elemia—which was shortlisted for the 2026 National Book Award. Before that, she wrote Rock Solid: How the Philippines Won its Maritime Case against China. It won the National Book Award and was translated into Vietnamese. Marites is among the contributors to the 2026 book, “Beyond Geopolitics: The Philippines in the New Marcos Era,” published by ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute; the 2021 book, “Maritime Issues and Regional Order in the Indo-Pacific,” published by Palgrave/Macmillan; and the 1998 book, “The Politics of Environment in Southeast Asia,” published by Routledge. Her articles have been published in Foreign Affairs, Raisina Files, Nikkei Asia, among others. Marites has a degree in A.B. Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines and a diploma in world politics from the London School of Economics. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University and a recipient of fellowships from the University of San Diego in California—the Pacific Leadership Fellow; the Rockefeller Foundation Writing Fellowship in Bellagio Center, Lago di Como, Italy; the International House in Tokyo—the Asia Leadership Fellow Program; the Australian National University, University of Kyoto and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

Renato Cruz De Castro is a distinguished professor at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University, Manila, and holds the Dr. Aurelio Calderon Chair in Philippines-American Relations. He is an adjunct faculty at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), where he handles the module International Security Studies. (ISS). He was a visiting fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) of the Japanese Ministry of Defense in the summer of 2018. He was a visiting researcher at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) from June to August 2017. From September to December 2016, he was based in the East-West Center in Washington D.C. as the U.S.-ASEAN Fulbright Initiative Researcher from the Philippines. He is an alumnus of the Daniel Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DIAPCSS) in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. In 2009, he became the U.S. State Department ASEAN Research Fellow from the Philippines and was based in the Political Science Department of Arizona State University.

Sophie Wushuang Yi holds a PhD in Chinese studies (international relations) from King’s College London, where she specialised in Sino-US relations, military and strategic studies, and South China Sea geopolitics. She is currently a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and a research fellow at the Marine Studies Center of the Grandview Institution. Sophie also has extensive professional experience, having served as an economist assistant at the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Beijing. She earned her bachelor’s degree in international politics and security studies from the University of Sheffield and pursued graduate studies in economics at SOAS, as well as China in comparative perspectives at the London School of Economics (LSE).