The “Changing Asia 2017: Perspective on Regional and Global Cooperation”, the second conference of the high-profile biannual Changing Asia conference series, is being organised jointly by IDSA and GIGA on September 15-18, 2017 at IDSA, New Delhi. The first conference was held in 2015 on perspectives on regional and global cooperation at GIGA in Hamburg, together with a subsequent policy panel at the KAS conference centre in Berlin. Around 30 scholars and think-tank representatives are expected to participate in the 2017 conference.

The objective of the conference is to deliberate upon the current patterns of conflict and collaboration within and across Asia’s sub-regions and as the role of rising Asian powers in global cooperation. Based on developments in the region, we aim to develop insights into the preconditions for cooperation (or the lack thereof) at the regional and global levels as well as explore the perceptions and power equations of the key actors.

Programme

Day 1, September 15, 2017

Venue: IDSA Auditorium

0930-1000h: Registration & Tea

1000-1100h: Inaugural Session

• Welcome Remarks by Maj Gen Alok Deb, SM, VSM (Retd), Deputy Director General, IDSA
• Remarks by Prof Patrick Köllner, Vice President, GIGA
• Remarks by Mr Peter Rimmele, Representative, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS)
• Keynote Address by Shri M.J. Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs

1100-1130h: Tea

1130-1300h: Session I: (Post-) Hegemony and Multi-Polarity in Asia (Part-I)

Chair: Prof Qu Bo (China Foreign Affairs University-CFAU)

• Prof Brantly Womack, University of Virginia (UVA), Mapping the Multi-Nodal Terrain of the Indo-Pacific Region
• Dr Nicola Nymalm, Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), Revisionism and Status Quo in Great Power Relations: The US and China in the Era of Trump
• Prof Robert Patman, U Otago, New Zealand, Are the US and China on the Road to War?

1300-1400h: Lunch

1400-1545h: Session II: (Post-) Hegemony and Multi-Polarity in Asia (Part-II)

Chair: Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (Retd)

• Prof John Echeverri-Gent, University of Virginia (UVa), Beyond Unipolarity and Multipolarity: International Networks and Power in Relations Between China, India, and the United States
• Prof Michael Staack, Helmut Schmidt Universität (HSU), New Strategy or Mere Opacity? Is there an Emerging Donald J. Trump East Asia Policy?
• Dr Thorsten Wojczewski, King’s College, Foreign Policy and Identity: India’s Quest for a Multipolar Order in Asia
• Dr S. Kalyanaraman, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), External Balancing in India’s China Policy

1545-1600h: Tea

1600-1730h: Session III: Multilateralism and Major Initiatives in Asia

Chair: Prof. Patrick Köllner, GIGA

• Prof Qu Bo, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), A New Asian Regional Order? Power Shift? Economic Connection and Asian Value
• Dr Nadine Godehardt, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), China’s Initiative to Re-map the World
• Prof S. D. Muni, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), East Asia Summit as the Fulcrum of Asian Security Dialogue

Day 2, September 16, 2017

1115-1130h: Tea

1130-1300h: Session IV: Cooperation and Competition between China and India

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary

• Prof Xia Liping, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), The Consular Dimension of Sino-Indian Cooperation
• Shri Ashok K Kantha, Director, Institute for Chinese Studies
• Dr Meena Singh Roy, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), India and the West Asian Region: Securing Economic Interests and Building Strategic Partnership

1300-1400h: Lunch

1400-1530h Session V: The Ideational Bases and Domestic Drivers of the Foreign Policies of China, India and the US I

Chair: Prof. John Owen (University of Virginia-UVa)

• Prof Joachim Betz, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), China and India in Global Governance: The Discourse on Fairness
• Dr Wu Lin, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), Preventive Diplomacy for Conflict Management in the Asia Pacific: A Chinese Perspective
• Dr Ashok Behuria, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Domestic Drivers of India’s Neighbourhood Policy

Tea break 1530-1545h

1545- 1730h Session VI: The Ideational Bases and Domestic Drivers of the Foreign Policies of China, India and the US II

Chair: Prof Brantly Womack, University of Virginia (UVA)

• Ms Medha, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), The Foreign Politics of Identity: The Dialectic of Self and Other in India’s Foreign Policy
• Dr Smruti S. Pattanaik, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), India and Bangladesh Land and Maritime Boundary Settlement: A Model to Follow
• Prof Sandra Destradi, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and Helmut Schmidt Universität (HSU), Dr Johannes Plagemann (GIGA) and Dr Chanchal Kumar Sharma (Central University of Harýana), Centre-State Relations and Subnational Governments’ International Engagements: Evidence from India

Event photographs