Dr Ji Xianbai
Director of Institute for South and Southeast Asian Studies, School of Global and Area Studies and Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China (RUC) in Beijing.
Topic：
The Paradox of Asia-Pacific Regionalism: Deeper Institutions, Narrower Futures
Asia-Pacific regionalism is undergoing a paradoxical transformation: it is deepening institutionally while its long-term horizon is narrowing under intensifying strategic pressures. On the one hand, regional economic institutions continue to consolidate and expand. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is attracting new applicants and widening its membership base. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, having entered into force, is moving toward its first review, with gradual progress in implementation and rule refinement. Meanwhile, the China–ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade signals continued efforts to deepen trade, digital economy cooperation, and supply chain integration. These developments suggest a sustained commitment among regional actors to institutionalized economic cooperation. On the other hand, the future scope of Asia-Pacific integration is becoming increasingly constrained. Ambitions for comprehensive, region-wide liberalization such as the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific are giving way to more selective, fragmented, and security-conditioned forms of cooperation. This contraction is driven by the securitization of economic relations amid intensifying Sino-US strategic competition, which raises the costs of deep multilateral commitments. At the same time, the resurgence of Trump-era economic statecraft, characterized by transactional bilateralism and “America First” leverage, reinforces pressures toward decoupling and alignment. As such, these dynamics are reshaping Asia-Pacific regionalism into a more cautious, resilience-oriented, and geopolitically filtered process.
Speaker Bio
Dr Ji Xianbai is Director of Institute for South and Southeast Asian Studies, School of Global and Area Studies and Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China (RUC) in Beijing.
He has authored and edited several books including China’s Area Studies: History and Development (RUC Press, 2025), Sanctions and Economic Warfare (RUC Press, 2025), Mega-regionalism and Great Power Geo-economic Competition (Routledge, 2022), From Centralised to Decentralising Global Economic Architecture: The Asian Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) and China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Impacts on Asian and Policy Agenda (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). His academic articles have been published by the Chinese Journal of International Politics, Pacific Review, Asia Europe Journal, Contemporary Southeast Asia and Asian Perspective, among others.
He obtained his doctorate from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore as a Nanyang President’s Graduate Scholar. He has also held research or visiting fellowships at the Australian National University, Centre for Multialteralism Studies of RSIS, EU Centre in Singapore and Chinese University of Hong Kong.
