The Asia Chessboard

Center for Strategic and International Studies

The “Asia Chessboard” features in-depth conversations with the most prominent strategic thinkers on Asia.

  • 38 minutes 5 seconds
    Is AI a Game Changer in U.S.-China Competition?

    This week Mike speaks to Ben Buchanan, Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and former Director for Technology and National Security on the National Security Council and White House Special Advisor on AI. He was also the former Director of the CyberAI Project at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University and has written several influential books. They discuss AI competition between the U.S. and China.

    29 April 2025, 11:00 am
  • 47 minutes 25 seconds
    The Biden Administration’s Indo-Pacific Legacy

    This week Mike joins Mira Rapp-Hooper, a political scientist and expert on the Indo-Pacific who formerly served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania at the National Security Council, White House. From 2021-2023 she served as Director for Indo-Pacific Strategy at the National Security Council, where she was responsible for the White House’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

    15 April 2025, 2:57 pm
  • 34 minutes 58 seconds
    South Korean Tumult and Strategic Direction

    This week Mike joins Victor Cha, President OF Geopolitics and

    Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at CSIS. From 2021 to 2025, he was appointed

    by Joseph R. Biden administration to serve on the Defense Policy Board in an

    advisory role to the secretary of defense. From 2004 to 2007, he served on the

    National Security Council (NSC) and was responsible for Japan, Korea,

    Australia/New Zealand, and Pacific Island nations. They discuss South Korea's

    recently failed coup in 2024, and the future of South Korean international

    relations in the region. 

    1 April 2025, 2:25 pm
  • 42 minutes 1 second
    Abe's Legacy and Japan's Next Moves

    This week Mike joins Nobukatsu Kanehara, Professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Mr. Kanehara previously served as assistant chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, he also became the inaugural deputy secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat. He also served as deputy director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. They discuss Japan's foreign policy and what to expect in the coming years.

    18 March 2025, 2:01 pm
  • 38 minutes 10 seconds
    Schemes and Scam Inc. in Southeast Asia

    Mike hosts Sue-Lin Wong, the Economist’s Southeast Asia correspondent. She was formerly a China correspondent for The Economist and host of The Prince, a multiple award-winning Economist podcast series about Xi Jinping. They discuss Southeast Asia and her new podcast Scam Inc.

    6 March 2025, 8:32 pm
  • 30 minutes 52 seconds
    Technology Competition: The New Great Game

    Mike hosts Tarun Chhabra, former Coordinator for Technology and National Security on the Biden administration’s National Security Council. He was also formerly the NSC Director for Strategic Planning and Director for Human Rights and National Security issues in the Obama Administration. They discuss developments in U.S.-China technological competition.

    20 February 2025, 3:26 pm
  • 36 minutes 50 seconds
    How Long Will Deterrence Hold?

    Mike hosts Michèle Flournoy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors. She is also former Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors. Prior to that she served as the as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during former President Obama’s first term in office from 2009-2012. They discuss deterrence and developments in the Indo-Pacific.

    4 February 2025, 12:00 pm
  • 43 minutes 38 seconds
    War over Taiwan in 2027?

    Mike hosts Bonnie Glaser, Managing Director for the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, and co-author of the recent book US-Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to a Crisis? (Brookings Press, April 2023) to discuss China, Taiwan and expectations for the near future.


    22 January 2025, 4:32 pm
  • 41 minutes 20 seconds
    Beyond Competing: The Security Treadmill

    Mike hosts Nadia Schadlow, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy in the Trump administration and current Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and Co-Chair of the Hamilton Commission on Securing America’s National Security Innovation Base, to discuss balance of power, national security strategy, overmatching, and risk

    7 January 2025, 4:39 pm
  • 45 minutes 39 seconds
    The Philippines in the Asia Dojo

    This week Mike hosts Richard Heydarian, Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines Asian Center and author of, among others, Asia’s New Battlefield (2015, Bloomsbury) & The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China & The New Struggle for Global Mastery (2019, Palgrave), to discuss the Philippines' foreign policy, relationships, and strategy in the Indo-Pacific. 

    19 December 2024, 5:54 pm
  • 41 minutes 14 seconds
    Deciphering Seoul's Indo-Pacific Tilt

    Mike hosts Jina Kim, Dean of Language and Diplomacy Division at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, to discuss South Korea's foreign policy and strategy in the Indo-Pacific.

    5 December 2024, 4:30 pm
  • More Episodes? Get the App