Biography

Dr. Thearith Leng is currently a visiting fellow at the Department of Political and Social Changes of the Australian National University (ANU). He has concurrently served as the director of the Mekong Centre of Strategic Studies of the Asian Vision Institute based in Phnom Penh. From 2004 to 2006, he engaged in a Japanese peace-building program (JSAC) where he obtained both Gold and Silver working medals from Cambodian Prime Minister for his outstanding contributions to the peacebuilding in Cambodia. Between 2006 and 2011, he worked as the Bureau Chief of the General Department of ASEAN of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia. In 2009, he became the academic advisor to the Department of International Studies of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, where he was in charge of designing the curriculum, supervising the honours program, giving lecturers and doing other tasks at the department. His research interests include Cambodia’s foreign relations with ASEAN and China, foreign policy of the Mekong countries, Asia-Europe Connectivity and Cambodian diasporas.

Selected Publications

Leng, Thearith. “Underlying Factors of Cambodia’s Bandwagoning with China’s Belt and Road Initiative”. East Asia, Springer, August 2019.
Leng, Thearith. Cambodia and Asia Europe Meeting 2020, edited by Thearith Leng & Robert Hor. Phnom Penh: Asian Vision Institute & Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, September 2019. E-book.
Leng, Thearith. “2016: A Promising Year for Cambodia?”. Southeast Asian Affairs (2017): 133-45. Leng, Thearith. “Small State Diplomacy: Cambodia’s Foreign Policy Towards Vietnam.” The Pacific Review 30, no. 3(2017): 328-47.