CARUM Conversation Series - 2

Does the Sino-US “Technology War” Menace Malaysia’s Development?
by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Greg Felker from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, USA
Moderator: Distinguished Professor Dato' Dr. Rajah Rasiah
Friday, 22 July 2022 • 3pm MYT
Venue: ASEM Room, Asia-Europe Institute (hybrid)

RSVP here: bit.ly/carumcs2

Abstract

For decades Malaysia’s economic development has been tied to the rise of “Factory Asia” – a dynamic, region-spanning division of labor forged through multinational companies' cross-border production networks, especially in the electronics and (more recently) information technology sectors. Recently, though, the post-Cold War era of untrammeled globalization has given way to renewed great-power rivalry, and Sino-US competition has reintroduced a security logic into Asia’s supply-chain architecture. How might trends linked to Chinese and US techno-nationalism revise the context for Southeast Asia and Malaysian development in particular? Does the so-called “new technology Cold War '' presage narrowing opportunities to capitalize on transnational investment and production, perhaps by pressuring countries to choose sides amidst supply-chain ‘de-coupling’? This talk will offer preliminary reflections on recent conversations with industry players and observers in Malaysia.

About the speaker: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Greg Felker

Dr. Felker joined Willamette University in 2005 after teaching in the Division of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and as a visiting faculty member of the Department of Government & Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. and MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton University, and his B.A. from the University Professors Program at Boston University. He teaches courses in Asian and International Politics, including the politics of development and macro-social change, technology, globalization, and international relations and political economy, and has published in these fields. From 2007-2009 he served as Chair of the Malaysia / Singapore / Brunei Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies.

Dr. Greg Felker is currently a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at the Asia-Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya.

RSVP here: bit.ly/carumcs2