Carlyle A. Thayer

Carlyle A. Thayer is Emeritus Professor, The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. Thayer is a Southeast Asia regional specialist with special expertise on Vietnam. He is the author of Southeast Asia: Patterns of Security Cooperation (Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2012). He writes a weekly column on Southeast Asian defense and security affairs for the The Diplomat. He has held senior appointments at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London; Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu; School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Center for International Affairs, Ohio University; Australian Command and Staff College; and the Center for Defence and Strategic Studies at the Australian Defence College. Thayer was educated at Brown, holds an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies from Yale and a PhD in International Relations from The Australian National University. He was in Hanoi when the Chinese oil rig crisis off Vietnam first broke out in May 2014.

Initial Impressions: Three First Trips to China, 1970s-1990s

In this show: dating tips for hooking up with your Marxist-Leninist thought instructor, advice on what modern music and seasonal vegetables to smuggle in from Hong Kong, the origins of China’s somewhat unorthodox driving customs, and instructions on reaching your nearest Communist bandit hotline should the red menace become too much to handle. Also making repeat appearances: Filipino rock bands.