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NDONESIA: Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies have jointly organized a two-day seminar on the response of Asia and the Pacific countries to the US’ engagement in the region in Singapore for Thursday.

Former Indonesia ambassador to Australia Sabam Siagian, one of the speakers at the conference, said that the initiative was timely with the rise of China and the US’ intention to shift its focus to Asia and the Pacific.

“It’s become so obvious that the entire geopolitical map of the Asia-Pacific region reflects a changing power dynamics that will continue to keep shifting in the coming decades until, hopefully, a new balance of power could be forged,” Sabam said here Wednesday.

Sabam has urged both China and the US to forge power sharing in Asia and the Pacific rather than ending up in competition that would be counterproductive to countries in the region.

Prof Tommy Koh, ambassador at large at the Singaporean Foreign Ministry, will deliver a keynote speech at the opening of the conference.