Will the Rules-based Order Survive Beyond Trump?

YCAPS is excited to announce the next event in the Community Conversations seminar series in the Yokosuka Community! This event will feature Dr. Benjamin Ho, Assistant Professor at the China Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), who will guide us in a discussion titled: "Will the Rules-based Order Survive Beyond Trump 2.0".

The release of America’s National Security Strategy in end November have generated questions about the type of world order that Trump seeks (Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, December 8, 2025). In Asia where competition between US and China is keenly felt and at its most acute, the answers are even more consequential. In his presentation, Dr Benjamin Ho will discuss the logic of the rules-based order and how changing American conceptions of the RBO is influencing American foreign policy. He will also share insights obtained from fieldwork in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia to explain why the rules-based order is now at an inflection point and what can be done about it.

Registration: Optional via this Google Form.

Schedule:

• 18:15-19:00 Refreshments & Networking (food & drinks)
• 19:00-20:15 Presentation and Q&A
• 20:15-20:30 Post Event Conversing

Location: *Please take note: We are back in our new location, The Yokosuka City Industrial Plaza, for this event!

Yokosuka City Industrial Exchange Plaza Training Room #2

〒238-0041 Kanagawa, Yokosuka, Honchō, 3-chōme−27 メルキュールホテル横須賀
https://www.yokosuka-sanpla.jp/

Google Map

Speaker:

Dr Benjamin Ho is Assistant Professor at the China Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. He obtained his PhD from the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK under a RSIS PhD scholarship. His research focus includes the study of China’s international relations, with an emphasis on Chinese political worldview and exceptionalism thinking. Other research interests include security multilateralism in the Asia Pacific region with a focus on regional institutions and fora, national security (intelligence), the sociology of religion and public theology (Christianity). He is the author of the book China’s Political Worldview and Chinese Exceptionalism: International Order and Global Leadership (Amsterdam University Press, 2021) and is working on his second book project on Political Myths and International Order in Northeast Asia (with a focus on China, Japan and South Korea). He was a Fulbright scholar at the Elliot School of International Affairs (George Washington University between 2021-2022), a Taiwan MOFA Fellow at the Institute of Political Science Academia Sinica (Taiwan) in 2022 and a Republic of Korea-ASEAN Scholar at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in 2025.

Format: This event will be off-the-record.

Registration: Optional via this Google Form
Moderators: Jeff Mazziotta, YCAPS Activites Coordinator

Co-Sponsor: None
Seminar Cost: Free of charge