Chinese ceramics have long played a central role in our understanding of Southeast Asia’s ancient past. For over a thousand years, their high quality and wide-ranging style have made them highly sought after commodities throughout the maritime trade route that spanned the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
The latest in the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Lecture Series was Dr Sarah Tiffin’s seminar entitled “Banks, Raffles and the Poison Tree of Java: Botanical Exchange in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries”. Dr Tiffin, an independent Australian-based scholar, spoke of the roles of Sir Joseph Banks and Sir Stamford Raffles in encouraging botanical investigations of the upas (or poison tree) of Java, within the context of the British Empire’s global botanical network.
The Singapore APEC Study centre at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute organised a seminar with Mr Emmanuel A. San Andres and Ms Rhea C. Hernando as the key speakers from the APEC Policy Support Unit (PSU) to share the findings of the ‘APEC Regional Trends Analysis (ARTA): Mixed Growth amid Heightened Uncertainty’ research report.
The ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute was honoured to welcome His Excellency Arthayudh Srisamoot, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand, to deliver the 19th ASEAN Lecture on “Thailand’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2019: Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”.
Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has achieved remarkable economic development and it has had profound and significant impact on ASEAN. Going forward, enhanced cooperation based on good understanding of each other’s needs, strengths, capacities and priorities will help deepen regional integration and boost mutual benefits.