Hoang Thi Ha

Researcher’s Profile

Hoang Thi Ha is Senior Fellow and Co-coordinator of the Regional Strategic and Political Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Before the current position, she was Lead Researcher (Political-Security) at the ASEAN Studies Centre of ISEAS. Her research interests include major powers in Southeast Asia and political-security issues in ASEAN, especially the South China Sea disputes, ASEAN human rights cooperation, ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific discourse and ASEAN’s institutional building.  Ms Hoang joined the ASEAN Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam in 2004. She then moved on to work at the ASEAN Secretariat for nine years, with her last post being Assistant Director, Head of the Political Cooperation Division. Ms. Hoang holds an MA in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

Current Research

• Reviewing the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus)
• Vietnam’s evolving approach on ASEAN
• ASEAN centrality in the Indo-Pacific discourse
• ASEAN-China negotiations on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC)

Selected Publications

• Beyond China, the USA and ASEAN: Informal Minilateral Options (ISEAS Perspective, June 2020, co-authored with Malcolm Cook)
• Surveying ASEAN’s Horizons: The State of Southeast Asia 2020’s Key Takeaways (ISEAS Perspective, March 2020, co-authored with Glenn Ong)
• Understanding China’s Proposal for an ASEAN-China Community of Common Destiny and ASEAN’s Ambivalent Response (Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 41/2, August 2019)
• From Declaration to Code: Continuity and Change in China’s Engagement with ASEAN on the South China Sea (ISEAS Trends, 2019)