Asia Symposium 2026

Asia in Transition: The Middle Power Moment | 20 May 2026, The Boatshed, Wellington

With global trade routes under pressure, aid budgets being rewritten and the Indo-Pacific reshaping itself around new power dynamics, next week's Asia Symposium from the Asia New Zealand Foundation seems perfectly timed.

On Wednesday 20 May, the Foundation brings together some of the region's sharpest minds for a full-day forum at The Boatshed on Taranaki Street Wharf — a gathering that promises to be one of the most interesting foreign policy conversations held in Wellington this year.

Themed “Asia in Transition: The Middle Power Moment”, the symposium reflects a growing recognition that countries like New Zealand - too small to set global rules, but too significant to ignore - must find new ways to exercise influence in an era when the old certainties of multilateralism and US leadership are no longer guaranteed.

The morning keynote sets the tone immediately. Professor Cheng-Chwee Kuik of the National University of Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's foremost scholars of strategic hedging and middle power diplomacy, will address Middle Power Realignments in Trump 2.0: Converging Purposes, Competing Pathways — a timely analysis of how nations across the region are recalibrating their foreign policies in response to Washington's unpredictability.

Japan's perspective will be offered in the afternoon by Dr Akiko Fukushima of the Tokyo Foundation, a veteran diplomat-turned-scholar whose career has spanned arms control negotiations and regional security architecture. Her address on Crisis, Continuity and Change: Japan's Strategic Outlook in 2026 and Beyond will be closely watched given Tokyo's evolving defence posture and its deepening ties with Wellington.

The day's four panels span issues of direct relevance to New Zealand. Maritime security in the Indo-Pacific — including freedom of navigation and contested waters — will be examined by Professor Bec Strating of La Trobe University, whose research on maritime disputes and regional order is widely cited, alongside Dr Sinderpal Singh from Singapore's Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Supply chain resilience under protectionism is another theme New Zealand cannot afford to ignore. Dr Deborah Elms of the Hinrich Foundation, a leading voice on Asian trade policy, will join Professor Pavida Pananond of Thammasat University to examine how exporters can future-proof their operations. A fireside chat on The Geopolitics of Aid - moderated by Wellington journalist Anna Fifield - will tackle the dramatic reshaping of development assistance globally, with implications for New Zealand's Pacific engagement.

The symposium closes with a keynote from Rt Hon Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs, offering the government's read on New Zealand's place in an increasingly contested region.

For New Zealand businesses, policymakers and academics, this is a rare opportunity to hear directly from the regional experts who are shaping -and interpreting - the forces that will define our trading relationships, security environment and international standing into the future.

The event is free, and RSVPs are open via the Asia New Zealand Foundation website.

Asia New Zealand