Benjamin Ho

Benjamin Ho

Assistant Professor and Coordinator, China Programme at IDSS, RSIS

Benjamin Ho is an assistant professor and coordinator of the China Programme at  the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. He obtained his PhD from the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. He was a Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellowship scholar at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinicia, from September to December 2022. His research focus includes the study of China’s international relations, with an emphasis on Chinese political worldview and exceptionalism thinking. Other research interests include security multilateralism in the Asia Pacific region with a focus on regional institutions and fora, national security (intelligence), the sociology of religion and public theology (Christianity).

 

Members of Taiwan's armed forces participate in a two-day routine drill to show combat readiness, at a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 12 January 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

Living in the dragon’s shadow: Taiwan’s identity dilemma and a view from Southeast Asia

Worsening cross-strait relations in recent times have generated anxiety about imminent conflict across the Taiwan Straits. During a three-month stint in Taiwan as the recipient of a Taiwan fellowship, RSIS academic Benjamin Ho observed that what is at stake for Taipei is not so much the threat from China per se but how domestic cleavages relating to Taiwan’s political identity complicate efforts to arrive at a modus vivendi with Beijing.
People stand in front of a destroyed shoe factory in the aftermath of a missile attack, amid Russia's invasion, in Dnipro, Ukraine, 12 March 2022. (Mykola Synelnikov/Reuters)

Why a truce between Moscow and Kyiv would be the best outcome for Beijing

Putin’s audacious invasion of Ukraine has led to speculations that Beijing is now having second thoughts about its relationship with Moscow. Given the uncertainty of how the conflict would play out, it is unlikely — short of a challenge to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party — that Beijing would make a sudden move to destabilise its relationship with Russia. RSIS academic Benjamin Ho looks at the complexities of the situation.