The Indo-Pacific Tilt

This in-person event will be hosted in partnership with our sister organisations, British Expertise International and the British Foreign Policy Group. In the Integrated Review, the government set out the importance of the Indo-Pacific region and its goal to build closer and deeper relationships:

‘The Indo-Pacific region matters to the UK: it is critical to our economy, our security and our global ambition to support open societies. At least 1.7 million British citizens live across the region and our trading relationships continue to grow. In the decades to come it will be the crucible for many of the most pressing global challenges – from climate and biodiversity to maritime security and geopolitical competition linked to rules and norms.

Our goal: we will be the European partner with the broadest and most integrated presence in the Indo-Pacific – committed for the long term, with closer and deeper partnerships, bilaterally and multilaterally‘. Source: Global Britain in a Competitive Age

In this panel event, we will review the situation one year on. Our panellists will provide their perspective on:

· The geo-political context and strategic significance of the Indo-pacific – is its importance growing or waning, and what risks and opportunities are emerging

· The trading context – is the tilt genuinely opening up opportunities for UK Business and in what areas?

· The Security context – what progress has been made and challenges remain in deepening both diplomatic ties and physical presence in the region

We will be joined by:

·      Andrew Mitchell CMG, Director General for Exports and UK Trade at the Department for International Trade

Andrew was appointed a Director General at the Department for International Trade in May 2020, having previously been Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe, responsible for the Department for International Trade’s work promoting trade and investment with the countries of Europe, and having held a number of senior positions in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

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·      Sophia Gaston, Director of The British Foreign Policy Group and Research Fellow in the Institute for Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Sophia Gaston is the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group. She is a social and political researcher specialising in public opinion. Her research particularly explores threats to governance in advanced liberal democracies, including – populism, nationalism, cultural insecurity, nostalgia and the rise of anti-establishment movements.

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·      Veerle Nouwens, Senior Research Fellow, Indo-Pacific Programme at Royal United Services Institute

Veerle is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Security Studies Department of the Royal United Services Institute, focusing on geopolitical relations in the Asia-Pacific region. Her research interests include China’s foreign policy, cross-strait relations, maritime security and ASEAN.

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·     Bill Hayton, Associate Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House and the Author of 'The Invention of China'

Bill Hayton was appointed an Associate Fellow with the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House in 2015 and has worked as a journalist with BBC News since 1998. He was the BBC’s reporter in Vietnam in 2006/7 and spent a year seconded to the state broadcaster in Myanmar in 2013/14 working on media development.