The Asia Chessboard

Mike sits down with Justin Bassi, Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, to examine Australia’s latest 2026 National Defence Strategy and what it reveals about Canberra’s evolving strategic outlook. They examine how the strategy aims to address Australia’s most pressing security challenges, how it differs from previous defense planning approaches, and explore emerging opportunities and considerations ahead as Canberra seeks to implement its objectives. Mike and Justin also explore the role of Australia’s broader policy community in shaping national defence debates, and how think tanks and other expert networks influence Canberra’s choices as it navigates an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific security environment.

This week Mike speaks with Ja Ian Chong, Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. They discuss the lessons and parallels of WWI and WWII for the contemporary Indo-Pacific, the potential for an outbreak of crisis and conflict in the region, the need for Singapore to review its geopolitical strategy, and much more.

This week Mike speaks with Richard Rossow, an esteemed expert who has focused on U.S.-India Relations for over 25 years. He is currently Senior Adviser and Chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They discuss the activities of the Quad, U.S.-India relations, how India could grow its trade partnership with the United States, and more.

This week Mike speaks to Congressman Ami Bera, who represents California’s Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Representative Bera is a senior Democrat serving as Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. They discuss the role of Congress in determining U.S. Indo Pacific Strategy.

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.

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.

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.