Richard Javad Heydarian is an academic, global affairs columnist and author. He has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, and is also a contributor to leading think tanks such as as Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Brooking Institution and Council on Foreign Relations. He is currently a senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines, Asian Centre, and the author of 'The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China, and the New Global Struggle for Mastery'.