SeaLight

09/04/2026

🚨Why Should We Care About 🇻🇳 's Island Building?

In March 2025, SeaLight Executive Director Ray Powell and Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific? host James Carouso interviewed author and Chatham House Associate Fellow Bill Hayton, to explain how Vietnam has embarked on its own campaign to build artificial islands in the South China Sea - a decade after China pursued its own campaign.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/9-uAnDR8Cqw

09/03/2026

On July 29, 2026, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. told the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum that foreign-linked educational exchanges deserved closer scrutiny, citing a SeaLight investigation that identified Jinan University as a major training site for Chinese-language teachers in Philippine scho...

09/02/2026

South China Morning Post: South China Sea island build-up heightens Vietnam’s security concerns
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Ray Powell, director of Stanford University’s SeaLight Foundation, said China's Paracel buildout might be, in part, an indirect response to Vietnam's ambitious construction programme in the Spratly Islands.

“While Beijing has not directly interfered with those, it is strengthening its position in the Paracels,” he said. “It may see this asymmetric response as a way to impose costs on Hanoi without creating a direct confrontation and perhaps driving it closer to Manila’s more adversarial position.”

Hanoi voices strong objections after reports emerge about Chinese construction works in the Paracels archipelago.

09/02/2026

09/01/2026

🚨The 🇵🇭 is an essential ally in the Indo-Pacific

Dr. Ely Ratner, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs under the Biden administration, sits down with SeaLight Executive Director Ray Powell and Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific host James Carouso.

In this clip, Dr. Ratner highlights the role of the Philippines as an essential ally of the United States in the Indo-Pacific. The Philippines has become "ground zero" for regional security, with China's illegal, coercive, and malign behaviors in the West Philippine Sea having galvanized allied support.

09/01/2026

08/28/2026

How 🇨🇳 is Preparing a Blockade of Taiwan

SeaLight Executive Director Ray Powell and Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific? Podcast Host James Carouso speaks with retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler, a career submariner, former U.S. defense attaché in Malaysia, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow, and author of two books: U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century and Naval Power in Action: Seizing the Initiative in the New Cold War with China.

In this clip, Brent explains China's increasing operations east of Taiwan for two reasons: 1. China is preparing for a blockade, which includes training to interdict shipping and anticipating a major conflict with the United States and its allies; and 2. China is using these operations diplomatically to change the status quo and normalize their presence, which lowers the threshold for conflict and gives them the element of surprise if they decide to attack Taiwan.

08/28/2026

🚨Why Should We Care if 🇨🇳 Dominates Maritime East Asia?

SeaLight Executive Director Ray Powell and Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific? Host James Carouso speak with retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler, a career submariner, former U.S. defense attaché in Malaysia, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow and author of two books: U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century and Naval Power in Action: Seizing the Initiative in the New Cold War with China.

Brent explains that China is exercising growing control over maritime East Asia, as Beijing has spent decades building the military, commercial, and political leverage to do exactly that. He says this is not just a question of aircraft carriers, missiles, and hull counts, but also about China’s strategic commercial footprint in ports, shipping and repair infrastructure, distant-water fishing fleets, maritime militia, and the China Coast Guard.

08/26/2026

Kwangyin Liu (Host): "The quarantine has begun. That's the warning from Ray Powell, the retired US Air Force colonel who now runs Stanford's SeaLight project... He told CommonWealth that 🇨🇳 's actions now show a quarantine of 🇹🇼 is already underway."

Is China already carrying out a "quarantine" of Taiwan? In this episode of Taiwanology, the team behind CommonWealth Magazine's Broken Chain investigation explains how 1.8 billion vessel data points reveal a long-term pattern of China Coast Guard activity aimed at reshaping the maritime status quo a...