Bill Hayton
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billhayton.bsky.social
Bill Hayton
@billhayton.bsky.social
Associate Fellow, Asia-Pacific Prog at Chatham House; Editor of Asian Affairs; author of ‘Invention of China’, ‘South China Sea’, ‘Vietnam: Rising Dragon’ and ‘Brief History of Vietnam’
Reposted by Bill Hayton
🚨Last chance to book!

Join us for a webinar, 'The Second Trump Administration: A Changing International Order', with Hitoshi Tanaka and @billhayton.bsky.social

Wednesday 18 June, 10am - 11am (UK) / 6pm - 7pm (JP)

Learn more and book your place: dajf.org.uk/event/the-se...
The Second Trump Administration: A Changing International Order
Trump’s second term has been impacting international relations between the US and the rest of the world at a whirlwind pace. The US-led international order established after WWII is shifting, bringing...
dajf.org.uk
June 17, 2025 at 11:36 AM
A cautionary tale for academic journal editors. Every single one of these very convincing-looking references is fake. Thanks AI for making us all more suspicious of each other and raising the barriers to publication...
May 23, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
Just what is Vietnam celebrating this week? It's not actually 'reunification'... by me
rsaa.org.uk/blog/what-do...
What Does Vietnam Actually Celebrate on 30 April? - The Royal Society for Asian Affairs
Bill Hayton is the editor of the RSAA’s journal Asian Affairs and was the BBC reporter in Vietnam in 2006-7 On 30 April, Vietnam marks the anniversary of the formal end of a war. But how long did that...
rsaa.org.uk
April 29, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Just what is Vietnam celebrating this week? It's not actually 'reunification'... by me
rsaa.org.uk/blog/what-do...
What Does Vietnam Actually Celebrate on 30 April? - The Royal Society for Asian Affairs
Bill Hayton is the editor of the RSAA’s journal Asian Affairs and was the BBC reporter in Vietnam in 2006-7 On 30 April, Vietnam marks the anniversary of the formal end of a war. But how long did that...
rsaa.org.uk
April 29, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
The dilemma faced by Western governments and aid agencies is how to get support to those who need it without it being diverted to Myanmar's military junta, writes @billhayton.bsky.social.
Myanmar’s military prioritizes its own survival in earthquake response
The devastating earthquake has put further strain on the embattled military regime as it fights a civil war. It is unlikely to collapse imminently, but the country’s crisis will only get worse.
www.chathamhouse.org
April 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
Trump Is Turning Out To Be a Very Pro-China President

@nahaltoosi.bsky.social makes a provocative and persuasive argument.

www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Trump Is Turning Out To Be a Very Pro-China President
From tariffs on allies to gutting aid programs to mocking the rule of law, the president’s moves could be a dream come true for the Chinese.
www.politico.com
February 5, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
lareviewofbooks.org/article/resp... new piece by Jeremy Murray up at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social that might interest @billhayton.bsky.social & @ncuscr.bsky.social among others, given its implications for not just the US but also China & maritime issues
Respecting the Waters | Los Angeles Review of Books
Jeremy Murray reviews three books on how the United States’ failure to ratify UNCLOS threatens global maritime order.
lareviewofbooks.org
January 13, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Some thoughts of mine in this. ‘Very striking’: China and Vietnam tighten ties in a ‘3+3’ strategic pivot sc.mp/msah1?utm_so... via @scmpnews.bsky.social
‘Very striking’: China and Vietnam tighten ties in a ‘3+3’ strategic pivot
The inclusion of public security alongside diplomacy and defence in their new dialogue mechanism has piqued analysts’ interest.
sc.mp
December 22, 2024 at 12:22 PM
Know any 21-28 year-olds looking to travel for research in Asia? Tell them about this. Deadline is 31 Jan…
rsaa.org.uk/awards/the-r...
The RSAA Travel Awards
Support for research to advance knowledge including, but not limited to, post-graduate degrees, journalism and travel writing.
rsaa.org.uk
December 12, 2024 at 11:52 AM
Is this to be China’s new talking point? After a few years of leaving Vietnam alone, Chinese voices now talking up a ‘threat’ from VN in the South China Sea
t.co/R2Y86yv3hV
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3290043/south-china-sea-vietnam-reef-projects-and-runway-may-set-scene-conflict-beijing
t.co
December 10, 2024 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
The Book Review editors at JVS were pleased to convene contributors including Tuong Vu, Harriet M. Phinney, @billhayton.bsky.social, and Ivan V. Small for a roundtable review of the recently published Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Vietnam, edited by Jonathan London.

10/
November 30, 2024 at 9:29 PM
Something I've noticed about the UK 'assisted dying' debate is that - over the past 34 years, MPs' mentions of 'palliative care' peak when the question of assisted dying is being debated. But once the debate is done, MPs forget about palliative care. Here's the Hansard ngram...
November 29, 2024 at 3:44 PM
China's new self-declared 'baseline' around Scarborough Shoal - almost in compliance with international law (except for being entirely without historical justification) asiatimes.com/2024/11/did-...
November 29, 2024 at 2:31 PM
Fascinating interview with the recently jailed Vietnamese journalist and author Huy Đức by @pzinoman.bsky.social online.ucpress.edu/jvs/article/...
Interview with Trương Huy San (Huy Đức)
This interview with the Vietnamese journalist and author Huy Đức covers his life and work up to 2013. In addition to providing a detailed biography of this important figure, the interview sheds light ...
online.ucpress.edu
November 28, 2024 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
In 2023 the world thought China was building a 600-metre long airstrip on Triton Island. Maxar images 📸 reveal however the PLA has instead been upgrading its signals intelligence facilities.

I recently wrote for Chatham House (@theworldtoday.bsky.social) on 🇨🇳's activities in the South China Sea.
How Beijing is closing surveillance gaps in the South China Sea
The discovery of a new radar system on China’s Triton Island military base shows that Beijing is rapidly developing its intelligence capacities in contested waters, write John Pollock and Damien Symon...
www.chathamhouse.org
November 24, 2024 at 10:36 AM
"the 'Han man’s burden' of civilizing the unruly frontier barbarians has always undergirded the modern Chinese state’s worldview. Diversity was something that had to be temporarily tolerated but ultimately overcomethrough colonial occupation..."
cambridge.org/core/service...
cambridge.org
November 21, 2024 at 9:05 AM
Great to meet a couple of journalistic legends and veteran ‘Asia Hands’ - Jon Swain and Michael Sheridan - at Michael’s book talk today.
November 19, 2024 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Bill Hayton
🇸🇬 PM Lawrence Wong meets🇨🇳state chairman Xi Jinping @ APEC. Issues statement about🇸🇬‘s “one China” policy. Xinhua erroneously states this as reiterating🇨🇳’s “one China principle.” www.mfa.gov.sg/Newsroom/Pre...

english.news.cn/20241116/742...
November 18, 2024 at 4:33 PM
"The new Vietnamese leadership has already made several surprising moves... Yet, given their backgrounds, the new leaders likely think that their most trusted friends are in Beijing and Moscow" www.iiss.org/publications...
Vietnam’s new leadership slate
A new state president and party general secretary have been appointed following the death of long-time leader Nguyễn Phú Trọng in July 2024. The takeover of Vietnamese politics by the security forces has several implications. Most obviously, it means there is little chance of further political liberalisation. Internationally, the intentions of the new leadership are harder to read, but their political instincts are likely to lead them closer to their comrades in Beijing and away from Western-style democracies.
www.iiss.org
November 15, 2024 at 4:52 PM
South China Sea: the struggle for power in Asia (2014)
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
November 14, 2024 at 10:18 AM
Vietnam: Rising Dragon (2020, 2nd Ed)
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
November 14, 2024 at 10:16 AM
A Brief History of Vietnam (2022)
www.tuttlepublishing.com/vietnam/a-br...
November 14, 2024 at 10:14 AM
The Invention of China (2020)
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
November 14, 2024 at 10:13 AM