Introduction

The Indo-Pacific stands at a critical juncture. Intensifying rivalries, rapid military modernization, and accelerating technological competition have placed the region at the centre of a transforming international order. While Europe grapples with Russia’s war in Ukraine and the United States unsettles multilateral institutions, it is in the Indo-Pacific that the future shape of the global order, particularly economic and technological, is being defined.

For Canada, this reality underscores the need to engage more deeply with the specific dynamics shaping the region. At such a time, it is more important than ever to hear directly from regional experts who can provide grounded perspectives on issues of critical importance. Their analyses identify concrete challenges and opportunities, offering insights into what Canada can do to strengthen its engagement with the Indo-Pacific, as well as how it can refine and build upon what it is already executing.

This report represents such a strategic reflection. It brings together eight contributions from our 2025 Indo-Pacific Research Fellows, who provide timely analyses of fast-moving developments in security, economics, and technology across the region. As part of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Initiative programming, with funding provided by the Government of Canada, this fellowship program is designed to deepen partnerships and engagement between Canada and countries in the Indo-Pacific region, contribute to Canadian knowledge about the region, build trust, and support regional networks.

Together, these essays highlight both the opportunities and challenges that Canada must take into account as it advances its Indo-Pacific Strategy. They reflect a diversity of views within the region, drawing attention to areas where Canadian engagement is welcomed, areas where it can be strengthened, and areas where caution and adaptation are required. The Fellows also provide practical recommendations that can help inform Canada’s future approach to the Indo-Pacific.

Vina Nadjibulla: Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy at Three: Presence, Partnerships, and the Next Turn
Nanae Baldauff: The Case for an Elevated Canada–Japan Defence Partnership
Don McLain Gill: Canada’s Role in Supporting the Philippines’ External Defence Posture
Suon Choi: Connecting South Korea’s and Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategies Through Defence and Security Cooperation
Tuvshinzaya Gantulga: Canada and Mongolia: A Past to Build On
Aries A. Arugay: Marcos at the Midpoint: Can He Secure a Legacy for the Philippines?
Yujen Kuo: Taiwan’s Responses to China’s Sabotage of Undersea Critical Infrastructure
Kumari Mansi: Assessing India’s Response to a Taiwan Strait Conflict Scenario
Farlina Said: Digital Growth to Digital Risks: Opportunities for Canada–ASEAN Cyber Partnerships
Bart Édes: What’s Next for Canadian Development Assistance in the Indo-Pacific?

Vina Nadjibulla

Vina is APF Canada's Vice-President Research & Strategy and leads the Foundation’s research, education, and network support activities. She also oversees the Foundation’s granting and research fellowships programs as well as development and capacity building projects. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada-Asia relations, with a focus on India and China.

As an international security and peacebuilding specialist, Vina has more than two decades of professional experience in high-level diplomacy, advocacy, policy-making, and political risk analysis. From war zones to board rooms, Vina has worked with national governments, non-profits, and philanthropic organizations in Canada, the United States, China, and a number of countries in Africa and Central Asia.

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Nanae Baldauff

Dr. Nanae Baldauff is the inaugural Japan-focused Indo-Pacific Research Fellow and a Senior (Non-Resident) Associate Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Italy and is currently serving as an academic mentor at the College. She is also Associate Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) in Belgium, as well as Senior Researcher at Keio Research Institute at SFC, Japan.

She is the author of a monograph Japan’s Defense Engagement in the Indo-Pacific: Deterrence, Strategic Partnership, and Stable Order Building (Springer, 2024). She has published peer-reviewed articles, numerous research papers, and policy briefs, on topics covering space securitydefence technology co-operation, and the defence industry. She has given lectures at numerous universities including courses at the NATO Defense College. 

Nanae obtained a Ph.D. in Political Science (Ghent University, Belgium) in 2022. She is a recipient of the Japan Foundation fellowship (2021). Nanae was Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College (2024) as the first Japanese national to be awarded this position. Additionally, she serves on the board of International Security Industry Council Japan. 

Her main research and interests include Japan’s defence policy, the Indo-Pacific security and strategic environment, Japan-Europe defence co-operation (NATO, EU, and individual countries), space security, and defence innovation and industry.

Don McLain Gill

Don McLain Gill is a Filipino geopolitical analyst, author, and lecturer at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University (DLSU). He is also a non-resident fellow at the Stratbase ADR Institute, a visiting senior fellow at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), and a non-resident fellow at the USANAS Foundation. 

Don specializes in Philippine foreign policy, Indo-Pacific maritime security co-operation, and India-Southeast Asian relations. He has written in the form of books, book chapters, peer-reviewed international journal articles, newspaper columns, and commentary/ analysis articles for major international affairs publishers. Don is also regularly interviewed by international news TV channels and newspapers. He is also invited as reviewer for major scopus-indexed international journals.

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Suon Choi

Suon Choi is a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. She also serves as a research fellow on the ROK Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Defense Innovation Special Advisory Committee and as an MND Policy Advisor Committee Defense Innovation Subcommittee Advisor. 

Her research expertise includes South Korea’s defence strategy, the U.S.-ROK alliance, and extended deterrence. Currently, she is researching U.S. extended deterrence, its credibility, and ROK’s nuclear armament debate.

She holds a B.A. in economics and international relations from Seoul National University, summa cum laude, and an M.A. in political science from Yale University. She is a doctoral student in international affairs at Georgia Tech.

Tuvshinzaya Gantulga

Tuvshinzaya Gantulga a principal adviser at Rio Tinto Mongolia. Previously, he served as the foreign policy aide to the President of Mongolia and the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia. 

As part of his reserve officer duties in the Mongolian Armed Forces, Tuvshinzaya was deployed to Afghanistan as a member of the Mongolian contingent that served with NATO troops. 

Tuvshinzaya holds an MPA from the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University in the City of New York, where he served as an online editor of the Journal of International Affairs. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs and The Diplomat

He is also a Millennium Leadership Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Aries A. Arugay

Aries A. Arugay is Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman. His research interests are civil-military relations, comparative democratization, security studies, and Philippine foreign policy. In recognition of his scientific research accomplishments, Professor Arugay was also conferred the rank of UP Scientist II (2019-2021) and UP Scientist III (2022-2024).

Aries is also a Visiting Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Philippine Studies Programme of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof-Ishak Institute (Singapore) and Editor-in-Chief of Asian Politics & Policy, an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell and the Policy Studies Organization. He was a visiting scholar at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón (Bolivia), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), University of Sydney, Jeju Peace Institute (South Korea), University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the National Institute of Defense Studies (Japan).

He has published in academic journals such as the American Behavioral Scientist, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Asian Perspective, International Affairs, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Journal of East Asian Studies, Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, Pacific Affairs, Philippine Political Science Journal, among others, and wrote several book chapters published by Routledge and Palgrave Macmillan. Aries is co-editor of the edited volume Games, Changes, & Fears: The Philippines from Duterte to Marcos Jr. (ISEAS, 2024).

Professor Arugay is a member of the Board of Trustees and Treasurer of the Foundation for the National Interest, Inc., an independent think-tank based in Manila. As a Track II diplomacy practitioner, he has participated in more than one hundred international meetings, workshops, and consultations on regional security, geopolitics, democratic governance, and ASEAN integration. Aries regularly conducts lectures and handles modules for different training institutions, such as the National Defense College of the Philippines, the Philippine Public Safety College, the Foreign Service Institute, and the Development Academy of the Philippines. He is one of the country’s leading political analysts often interviewed by domestic and foreign media.

In recognition of his accomplishments, Aries received the 2019 Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement from his alma mater, Georgia State University. In 2020, the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines awarded him as an Outstanding Young Scientist (Political Science), the second political scientist to ever receive this award.

He obtained his PhD in Political Science from Georgia State University (United States) as a Fulbright Fellow and his MA and BA (cum laude) in Political Science from the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

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Yujen Kuo

Dr. Yujen Kuo is director and professor at the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies of National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. He is also vice president at the Institute for National Policy Research (INPR) and the chairperson of the Global Risk Assessment Team (GRAT) at INPR. 

He has served as adviser at the Mainland Affairs Council since 2016. He is also an adviser to the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce and has been the president of the Taiwan Society of Japan Studies since 2019. 

Dr. Kuo’s main research interests include Japan’s defence industry and policy, the U.S.-Japan alliance, and security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Dr. Kuo is the author of many academic volumes and articles in Chinese, English, and Japanese. 

Dr. Kuo was formally invited to give talks to the Japanese ministry of defence, the U.S. State Department, and France’s ministry of defence to share his expertise and recommendations on security issues in the Indo-Pacific.

Kumari Mansi

Dr. Mansi is an assistant professor and co-ordinator for the Centre for BRICS Studies at Amity University Haryana, India. She also serves as Deputy Director of the Indo-Pacific Studies Centre, an Australia-based regional think tank, and has been appointed as an Honorary Research Associate at the Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University, Australia (2024–2027). 

Additionally, she chairs the India Chapter of the National Youth Movement for the West Philippines (South China) Sea. She is a recipient of several prestigious fellowships, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taiwan Fellowship (2023), Ministry of Education (Taiwan) Short Term research Award (2022) at Postdoctoral level, and grants under the Shastri Indo-Canadian Students Mobility Program (2012) and Shastri Indo-Canadian Knowledge Grant (2015).

Dr. Mansi holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Canadian Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, along with master’s degrees in French and political science. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences, delivered lectures at various universities and forums, and published in the form of policy briefs, book chapters, research articles, and media analyses.

Her research interests include Indo-Pacific geopolitics, maritime security, foreign policy (India and Canada), and India-Canada relations. She has also contributed to various media outlets as a subject-matter expert. 

Farlina Said

Farlina Said is a fellow and team lead in the Cyber and Technology Policy programme at ISIS Malaysia. She has been involved in crafting various dialogues and forums on cybersecurity, technology policy, and digital governance. 

Her research focus is on cyberstability, Malaysia’s national interest in emerging technologies, as well as the peaceful and meaningful use of cyber and digital tools. Her written work and comments have appeared in media such as The New Straits Times, The Nation (Thailand), and South China Morning Post

She served as a facilitator on ‘Cyber Norms for Responsible State Behaviour’ under the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s regional capacity-building project and chaired the Malaysian-leg of the Track II CSCAP Study Group on International Law and Cyberspace. She has also conducted conversations on AI governance in Malaysia with the support of MyDIGITAL and Microsoft. 

She was formerly a security and foreign policy analyst and currently supports ISIS Malaysia’s activities on Malaysia-Korea relations. Farlina graduated from S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, with a MSc (Strategic Studies) with a certificate in terrorism studies. She had participated in the ROK Ministry of Unification Institute for Unification Education Emerging Leaders Fellowship in 2019.

Bart W. Édes

Bart Édes is a policy analyst, commentator, and author of Learning From Tomorrow: Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption (2021). An APF Canada Distinguished Fellow, he focuses on developing Asian economies, international development, cross-border trade and investment, innovation, social policies, and transformative trends reshaping the world.

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