Asia-Pacific
From preventing escalations in the South China Sea to strengthening peace in the southern Philippines, HD supports the needs of local communities and contributes to wider regional and global security.
Conflicts in the Asia-Pacific can reverberate throughout the region and beyond. HD teams work closely with governments, non-state actors, civil society groups and other stakeholders – very often discreetly – to produce sustainable and meaningful outcomes that reduce tensions and resolve conflict.
Working closely with HD’s China team, our teams support efforts to reduce tensions in the South China Sea. Our teams help build the trust, norms and crisis management mechanisms needed to reduce the risk of escalation, by regularly facilitating dialogue between the coastguards of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Declining fish stocks are also a key conflict trigger in the South China Sea, causing fleets to fish further afield, encroaching into disputed waters and risking encounters with foreign law enforcement vessels. HD supports collaborative efforts to deliver the science and build the cross-regional relationships essential to preventing a destabilising collapse in fish stocks. This includes working with the South China Sea Fisheries Science Working Group, https://www.scsfisheries.org/ a network that HD helped establish, bringing together scientists and policymakers from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam to promote cooperative approaches to sustainable fisheries management.
Around the Bay of Bengal, HD works to prevent conflict and reduce interstate tensions by facilitating regional dialogue between Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia. The dialogue aims to establish institutional mechanisms that can prevent escalations at sea, enhance regional research capacity, and advance regional cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Since 2004, HD has been deeply engaged in the Philippines by supporting the peace process on the southern island of Mindanao. The 2019 creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was a crucial milestone in ending the conflict between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but peace remains vulnerable. As a member of the International Contact Group, HD works with the parties to keep implementation of the peace agreement on track. Our teams work with local mediators to resolve local conflicts that devastate communities and threaten to undermine the broader peace process. In 2024 alone, this work resulted in 12 community level agreements to resolve local conflicts.
For nearly two decades, HD has assisted stakeholders in Thailand in navigating periods of political tension and polarisation through confidence-building, dialogue, and conflict-sensitive early warnings. This includes work on social media to reduce online harms and keep these from escalating real-world conflict: ahead of the general elections in May 2023, HD worked alongside civil society to broker the Elections Code of Conduct that, for the first time, included an Annex on Responsible Use of Social Media. HD has also provided mediation support to reduce environmental and climate-related tensions in Northern Thailand and strengthen humanitarian access for vulnerable communities.
Climate change and human activities are fundamentally reshaping the economic, environmental, and security landscape across the Greater Mekong Region (Cambodia, China, Laos, MyanmarThailand, and Vietnam). Resource scarcity and evolving development priorities create complex transboundary challenges requiring innovative approaches. HD convenes regional and bilateral engagements on shared climate-environmental risks, water resources management, and crisis prevention. Through inclusive engagement that bridges technical expertise with policy action, we support riparian states in addressing sensitive emerging issues and developing collaborative approaches to strengthen regional stability.
To address the devastating conflict in Myanmar, HD supports regional diplomatic efforts using discreet backchannels to all the conflict parties and regional states, and facilitating discreet dialogue among stakeholders to encourage a reduction of violence and access to humanitarian aid.
In Bangladesh, HD works with civil society to support inclusive reforms, prevent violence, and safeguard the electoral transition.
The security landscape of Northeast Asia is undergoing profound change, shaped by continued nuclear developments on the Korean Peninsula, deteriorating inter-Korean relations, and intensifying great power competition. These dynamics create escalating risks of nuclear conflict through accident or miscalculation, threatening both regional stability and global non-proliferation efforts. HD works to strengthen regional stability by fostering trusted dialogue and confidence-building among key stakeholders. Through strategic convenings, we develop practical frameworks for security cooperation, non-proliferation pathways, and crisis management across Northeast Asia.
Photo: One of a series of citizen assemblies in Bangsamoro communities in the southern Philippines to help chart the course for post-COVID economic recovery. © HD
