Lai and Kelly are joined by joined by James Borton, a veteran journalist and author on Southeast Asia. He has reported widely for outlets such as The Washington Times and The Diplomat, focusing on environmental security issues stretching from the Philippines, Micronesia and to Vietnam, especially on the Mekong River and the South China Sea.
In this episode, Mr. Borton speaks about regional martime conflict in Southeast Asia as well as his latest book, Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground, in which he uses field notes, knowledge of ecological politics and the idea of science diplomacy, to explore ways in which we can build up relationships in the region and solve the environmental damage to the endangered coral reefs of the region.
James Borton is a Nonresident Fellow with Stimson’s Southeast Asia program. Borton is a veteran editor and writer with over 25 years experience in Southeast Asia. He was an Asia Pacific correspondent for The Washington Times and still contributes op-eds and special reports from the region. He is the author of Venture Japan (Probus 1992) and has edited two books, The South China Sea: Challenges and Promises (2015) and Islands and Rocks in the South China Sea: Post Hague Ruling (2017). In addition, he successfully edited two journals, Venture Japan and New Asia Review (Greenwood/Praeger).
As an ocean steward, he has reported widely for The Washington Times, Geopolitical Monitor, Asia Times, Asia Sentinel, The Diplomat, International Policy Digest, and Project Syndicate about environmental security issues in the South China Sea and in the Lower Mekong Delta.
He’s a faculty associate at the Walker Institute at the University of South Carolina, where he embraces an interdisciplinary approach to teaching writing and critical thinking about globalization and environmental issues.
