South China Sea NewsWire Advisory Board
Lucio Blanco Pitlo III is a foreign policy and security analyst specializing on Southeast Asian affairs, maritime security, connectivity and great power competition in the region.
Ray Powell is the Director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency initiative of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2021 after 35 years, including postings as the Air Attaché to Vietnam and Senior Defense Official/Defense Attaché to Australia.
Sumathy Permal is a Senior Researcher with the Centre for the Straits of Malacca at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia. Her current focus is on strategic and defense issues in the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.
Professor Dr. Yann-huei Song obtained his LL.M. and J.S.D degrees from U.C. Berkeley, the United States and Ph.D. degree from Kent State University , Kent, Ohio, the United States. He was a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (1993-2021). His research areas include the international law of the sea and national ocean policy. He is now a board member of the Chinese Society of International Law (Taiwan) and the R.O.C. Association for Ocean Policy and Maritime Affairs. He had participated in the Indonesian-hosted Informal Workshop on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea and visited 7 times of the largest naturally-formed island — Taiping Island (Itu Aba) — of the Spratly archipelago.
Benjamin Blandin has been working as a consultant in strategy and innovation for 15 years in both industry and consulting firms. He holds an MA in strategy consulting from EM Lyon (France), an MA in Geopolitics from the French Institute of Geopolitics and graduated from the Paris Military Academy (maritime strategy program). Benjamin has earned a Ph.D. from the Paris Catholic University in geopolitics focusing on the phenomena of AZAD, hybrid warfare and grey area tactics in the South China Sea.
South China Sea NewsWire Staff
James Borton is a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins/SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and the author of Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground. He contributes opinions for The Washington Times, Asia Times, Asia Global Online, Geopolitical Monitor, East Asia Forum and the South China Morning Post. James is Editor-in-Chief of the South China Sea NewsWire.
Jing Ge is a Research Associate at the South China Sea NewsWire and a Policy Analyst at the Global Security & Economic Policy Think Tank. She is currently a PhD candidate in International Relations and an instructor at Florida International University. Her research fields include International Organizations and International Law, Indo-Pacific regional security, and emerging technology. She has written for The Diplomat, The National Interest, 9DASHLINE, East Asia Forum, The Interpreter, Australia Outlook, and American Purpose. Her academic work has also been published in many international peer-reviewed journals.
Alyssa I. Agard is the Manager of Strategic Outreach and Partnerships at the South China Sea NewsWire and President and CEO of Agard Research Associates Inc., a nonprofit policy research institute. She is also a Master of Public Policy candidate with a research focus on foreign affairs and defense policy. Her scholarship examines deterrence, space security, and PLA doctrine, and her applied work spans crisis wargaming on Indo-Pacific contingencies and simulation modeling of Chinese military operations across the maritime, space, and information domains.
Dumitru Palanciuc is a Research Associate — Editorial Contributor at the South China Sea NewsWire. He holds a Master of Law in China Studies from Renmin University of China. His research interests include China’s engagement with smaller states, Chinese foreign policy, international relations, economic statecraft, and strategic competition.
Isabella Gualano is a Research Associate — Editorial Contributor at the South China Sea NewsWire. She is also a recent graduate of Peking University’s Yenching Academy, where she completed a Master’s in China Studies, specialising in history. Having lived and studied in both China and Taiwan, her academic and professional experience has given her a broad interest in Chinese society, history, culture, energy, identity politics, and China’s role in the wider region. She also has experience in journalism and media, including documentary and podcast production, presenting, and writing on Chinese culture and society.
Kelsey H. Le is a Social Media Intern at the South China Sea Newswire and an undergraduate student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. A rising penultimate-year Government major with double concentrations in International Relations and Comparative Politics, she is keen to work on governance, AI geopolitics, and the intersection of populism and foreign policy.
Fiona Hinrichsen is the Managing Editor at the South China Sea NewsWire and a summer intern with Worldway New Immigrant Alliance in Boston, MA. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, concentrating on East and Southeast Asia, at Tufts University and will study Chinese at the University of Oxford this fall. Fiona notably served as Executive Editor of The Tufts Daily and Publicity and External Relations Chair of Sino-US Relations Group Engagement (SURGE). Raised in China and Vietnam, her work focuses on geopolitics between these regions, with an emphasis on human-centered stories and cultural relations.
Atif A. Choudhury is the Indo-Pacific Business Development & Partnership Lead at the South China Sea NewsWire and a foreign affairs and international development professional specializing in South Asia, governance, and strategic competition. He is Founder and CEO of the American Bangladesh Foundation, Academic Relations Strategist at the Qatar Cultural Attaché Office, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Vanderbilt Center for Global Democracy, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he worked with the University of South Carolina’s Rule of Law Collaborative and The Carter Center’s China Program, supporting initiatives on governance, think tank capacity building, and PRC activities in Africa and South Asia. His analysis has appeared in The Diplomat, Small Wars Journal, LSE International Development Blog, Oxford Political Review, The US–China Perception Monitor, Dhaka Tribune, HuffPost, and other outlets.
Bálint Jurászik is a Research Associate — Editorial Contributor at the South China Sea NewsWire. He is also a Hungarian historian and researcher specializing in modern history and East and Southeast Asian international relations. He is currently completing his MA in History at Kodolányi János University. His research interests include modern Korean history, democratization and social movements, Southeast Asian regional politics, Indonesian foreign policy, and the social history of the Cold War. His work combines historical research with an interest in contemporary regional affairs and international cooperation in East and Southeast Asia.
Lilou Blengini is a Research Associate — Book Research and Publications at the South China Sea NewsWire. She is also a French Research Associate based in Brussels, specializing in International Relations, defence and security, with a particular interest in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations, with a specialization in Peace, Security and Conflict Studies, and is currently pursuing a Master’s specialization in European Studies at the Institute for European Studies at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Her research interests focus on military and strategic affairs in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as on EU–East Asia relations, particularly in the fields of defence, security and strategic affairs.
