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Sebastian Strangio

Sebastian Strangio

Sebastian Strangio is Southeast Asia editor at The Diplomat. 

In 2008, he began his career as a reporter at The Phnom Penh Post in Cambodia, and has since traveled and reported extensively across the 10 nations of ASEAN. Sebastian’s writing has appeared in leading publications including Foreign Affairs, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The New York Times, The Diplomat, and Nikkei Asian Review, among many others. He is the author of “Hun Sen’s Cambodia” (Yale, 2014), a path-breaking examination of Cambodia since the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and “In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century (Yale, 2020). 

Alongside his journalistic work, Sebastian has also consulted for a wide variety of economic risk firms and non-government organizations, and is quoted frequently in the international media on political developments in Southeast Asia. Sebastian holds a B.A. and Master’s degree in international politics from The University of Melbourne. He currently lives in Adelaide.

You can get in touch with Sebastian via Twitter, Facebook, or email.

Posts by Sebastian Strangio
March 03, 2025

US, Japan Issue Travel Alerts for Thailand After Uyghur Deportation

By Sebastian Strangio
The two governments have warned their nationals about possible retaliatory attacks, citing the Erawan Shrine bombing in 2015.

March 03, 2025

Myanmar Junta Chief to Meet with Vladimir Putin on Russia Trip

By Sebastian Strangio
Facing Western sanctions and opprobrium, Naypyidaw and Moscow have strengthened their cooperation in both the economic and security spheres.
February 28, 2025

Thai Opposition Party Files No-Confidence Motion Against PM Paetongtarn

By Sebastian Strangio
The People's Party accuses the leader of incompetence, lack of qualifications, and being under the undue sway of her father Thaksin Shinawatra.

February 28, 2025

Leading Vietnamese Scholar and Journalist Imprisoned for Critical Facebook Posts

By Sebastian Strangio
Truong Huy San, who is better known by the pen name Huy Duc, was convicted of "abusing democratic freedoms."

February 27, 2025

Vietnam, New Zealand Announce Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

By Sebastian Strangio
New Zealand has become the 10th nation, and the seventh in the past three years, to be promoted to the top tier of Vietnam's diplomatic hierarchy.

February 27, 2025

Thai Deportation of Uyghurs Is Imminent, Rights Group Says

By Sebastian Strangio
The 48 asylum seekers are part of a group of more than 300 Uyghur Muslims who fled China's Xinjiang region in 2014.
February 26, 2025

Indonesia, Apple Agree Terms For Lifting iPhone Sales Ban: Report

By Sebastian Strangio
Jakarta banned the sale of the firm's latest smartphone in October for failing to comply with rules requiring the use of locally made components.

February 26, 2025

Cambodia Proposes Resumption of Joint Military Exercise With the US

By Sebastian Strangio
The request is the latest sign that Prime Minister Hun Manet's government is trying to restore greater balance in its foreign relations.

February 24, 2025

Philippines Removed From Watchdog’s Money-laundering ‘Grey List’

By Sebastian Strangio
The Financial Action Task Force has also added Laos and Nepal to its list of nations subject to "increased monitoring."

February 24, 2025

Thai, Cambodian Police Rescue 215 Trafficked Scam Workers

By Sebastian Strangio
The raid in the Cambodian border town of Poipet follows Bangkok's crackdown on scamming operations along the Thailand-Myanmar border.

February 21, 2025

Vietnam’s National Assembly Approves $8B Rail Link to China

By Sebastian Strangio
The project is expected to reinforce the already strong economic linkages between northern Vietnam and southern China.
February 19, 2025

Thai Opposition Leader Defends Support for Lese-Majeste Law Change

By Sebastian Strangio
The country's anti-corruption agency is investigating 44 ex-MPs from the dissolved Move Forward Party over their support for changes to the law.

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