Bill Hayton Keynote Speaker

Bill Hayton is an expert on the geopolitics of Southeast Asia and author of three books on Asia: ’The Invention of China’ (Yale, 2020), ’The South China Sea: the struggle for power in Asia’ (Yale, 2014) and ‘Vietnam: rising dragon’ (Yale, 2010).

He is an Associate Fellow with the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He has worked in various roles for BBC News since 1998 including a year as the BBC’s Vietnam reporter in 2006-7 and another on secondment to the Myanmar state broadcaster, MRTV, in 2013-14.

He previously worked on European and Middle Eastern affairs, including a period working for al Jazeera (Arabic) television. He has given presentations for many government agencies, companies, think tanks and universities on the South China Sea disputes. He was awarded his PhD by the University of Cambridge in 2019 for his research on the history and development of the South China Sea disputes. He currently focuses on the politics of the ASEAN region and relations between South East Asia and China, the United States and other powers.