Asia Inside Out

In this episode of Asia Inside Out, Rorry Daniels, Managing Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, sits down with Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center and leading expert on transnational cybercrime in Southeast Asia. Together, they unpack the $64 billion a year [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/world/asia/scam-centers-myanmar-cambodia.html] scam industry run by criminal syndicates operating out of Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, as well as the human trafficking networks that sustain these operations. Daniels and Sims explore what China and the United States have done to confront this rapidly evolving transnational threat and provide further recommendations for how countries and multilateral bodies like ASEAN can strengthen their collective response. Asia Inside Out brings together our team and special guests to take you beyond the latest policy headlines and provide an insider’s view on regional and global affairs. Each month we’ll deliver an interview with informed experts, analysts, and decision-makers from across the Asia-Pacific region. If you want to dig into the details of how policy works, this is the podcast for you. This podcast is produced by the Asia Society Policy Institute, a “think-and-do tank” working on the cutting edge of current policy trends by incorporating the best ideas from our experts and contributors into recommendations for policy makers to put these plans into practice.

In this episode of Asia Inside Out, Asia Society Policy Institute's Managing Director, Rorry Daniels, speaks with historian and author Thant Myint-U, grandson of former UN Secretary-General U Thant, about his latest book, Peacemaker: U Thant, the United Nations, and the Untold Story of the 1960s. They explore U Thant’s legacy as the first non-Western Secretary General of the UN, focusing on his efforts to amplify the voices of newly decolonized nations and mediate Cold War tensions. Thant Myint-U reflects on the challenges that his grandfather faced in shaping a more equitable international system, which of these challenges persist, and how today’s leaders can improve the future of multilateral diplomacy and global governance. Asia Inside Out brings together our team and special guests to take you beyond the latest policy headlines and provide an insider’s view on regional and global affairs. Each month we’ll deliver an interview with informed experts, analysts, and decision-makers from across the Asia-Pacific region. If you want to dig into the details of how policy works, this is the podcast for you. This podcast is produced by the Asia Society Policy Institute, a “think-and-do tank” working on the cutting edge of current policy trends by incorporating the best ideas from our experts and contributors into recommendations for policy makers to put these plans into practice.

On this episode of Asia Inside Out, Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, sits down with Tan Sri Nazir Razak, chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and Ikhlas Capital. Daniels and Razak discuss Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN, the importance of regional economic development and integration, and the ways in which Southeast Asia’s private and public sectors can work together to address challenges like climate change and AI. Asia Inside Out brings together our team and special guests to take you beyond the latest policy headlines and provide an insider’s view on regional and global affairs. Each month we’ll deliver an interview with informed experts, analysts, and decision-makers from across the Asia-Pacific region. If you want to dig into the details of how policy works, this is the podcast for you. This podcast is produced by the Asia Society Policy Institute, a “think-and-do tank” working on the cutting edge of current policy trends by incorporating the best ideas from our experts and contributors into recommendations for policy makers to put these plans into practice.

Zichen Wang, founder and editor of the Pekingnology newsletter and research fellow and director for International Relations at the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), speaks with Rorry Daniels, managing director of Asia Society Policy Institute, on our latest episode of Asia Inside Out. Wang and Daniels discuss the state of U.S.-China relations one month after “Liberation Day”, the future of the relationship, and the importance of maintaining people-to-people connections.  Asia Inside Out brings together our team and special guests to take you beyond the latest policy headlines and provide an insider’s view on regional and global affairs. Each month we’ll deliver an interview with informed experts, analysts, and decision-makers from across the Asia-Pacific region. If you want to dig into the details of how policy works, this is the podcast for you. This podcast is produced by the Asia Society Policy Institute, a “think-and-do tank” working on the cutting edge of current policy trends by incorporating the best ideas from our experts and contributors into recommendations for policy makers to put these plans into practice.

Sean Turnell, a former economic policy advisor to Myanmar’s democratic government, recounts his 650-day imprisonment in Myanmar which he served after being wrongfully arrested in the aftermath of the February 2021 military coup. Drawing from his career as an economic analyst and professor, Turnell examines the economic challenges facing Myanmar’s junta four years into the civil war and discusses what policies the international community can take to improve the situation in Myanmar. Meghan Murphy, Schwarzman fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, moderates the conversation. Asia Inside Out brings together our team and special guests to take you beyond the latest policy headlines and provide an insider’s view on regional and global affairs. Each month we’ll deliver an interview with informed experts, analysts, and decision-makers from across the Asia-Pacific region. If you want to dig into the details of how policy works, this is the podcast for you. This podcast is produced by the Asia Society Policy Institute, a “think-and-do tank” working on the cutting edge of current policy trends by incorporating the best ideas from our experts and contributors into recommendations for policy makers to put these plans into practice.