In December 2022, the Japanese government announced major changes to its defense policies, including a new National Security Strategy. As a founding member of ASEAN enjoying long and close relations with Japan, Thailand offers an interesting case study of Japan’s defense diplomacy in the region. Since 2005, Japan has been participating in annual US-Thai hosted multinational military exercises. At the same time, Thailand has also strengthened its defense relationship with China. Nevertheless, a bilateral defense agreement was signed in May 2022 during Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Thailand. This online roundtable will explore Japanese-Thai defense relations in the light of Japan’s new National Security Strategy, of the Japanese-Thai bilateral defense agreement, and of the closer relations between Thailand and China from Japanese and Thai perspectives. Moderated by DIJ’s David M. Malitz, it features Saya Kiba (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies/National Defense Academy of Japan) and Kitti Prasirtsuk (Thammasat University, Bangkok). Details here