Yew Meng LAI is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations and Dean of the Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning (CPKLL), Universiti Malaysia Sabah. He is also a research fellow at the varsity’s Small Island Research Centre. Lai obtained his Master’s in International Political Economy and Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Warwick. He was formerly attached to the Japan Institute of International Affairs as a Visiting Research Fellow (2003–2004). Lai’s research interests include: Japanese/Chinese foreign policy, Sino-Japanese relations, East Asian security, Malaysian politics and foreign policy, and Indonesia-Malaysia relations.