ARTICLES

Recalibrating Southeast Asia’s Climate and Energy Strategies Amid US Policy Shifts

Angel Hsu|Silvia Landa

The US government has withdrawn globally from climate and clean energy engagement, undermining prospects for clean energy and climate collaboration with Southeast Asia. On the flipside, China’s historic climate-related finance in the region has far outpaced that of the US, particularly in infrastructure-heavy projects. While the loss of US climate finance may not be detrimental in the near-term, it does undermine the region’s support of environmental governance, and civil society and institutional capacity to pursue its climate efforts.

The AI-Robotics Revolution, China-US Rivalry and Southeast Asia

John Lee

China is best positioned to achieve mass implementation of ‘embodied AI’, i.e., the integration of AI with robotics. This provides significant opportunities for Southeast Asian economies keen to develop real-world applications of AI. However, how far countries will go in adopting China’s AI technology stack will be shaped by US-China strategic competition, which is increasingly being played out in the AI and robotics sectors.