WPS Dispatch is an opinion and analysis platform dedicated to making sense of developments in the West Philippine Sea, the South China Sea, and the wider maritime Indo-Pacific. Published by the WPS Foundation, it brings together clear, timely, and policy-relevant perspectives from scholars, practitioners, journalists, and emerging voices working on maritime security, international law, regional diplomacy, and ocean governance.
At a time of growing geopolitical tension, disinformation, and legal contestation, WPS Dispatch aims to promote evidence-based debate by providing a space for informed, peer-reviewed commentary and analysis.
WPS Foundation is a non-government, nonprofit, nonpartisan, and volunteer-based organization duly registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. It advances principled, rules-based approaches to managing disputes in the West Philippine Sea and the broader South China Sea through rigorous research, policy dialogue, and sustained engagement with academia, government, the defense and security community, industry, and civil society across Southeast Asia and beyond.
WPS Foundation is the coordinating organization of The Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea, a high-level Track 1.5 process that promotes a free, open, secure, and rules-based maritime order in the region. It also serves as the Philippine Committee for the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), the region’s largest network of Track II research institutes and think tanks.
President & CEO, WPS
jeffrey@wps-ph.org
Dr. Jeffrey Ordaniel is President and CEO of WPS Foundation and Associate Professor of International Security Studies at Tokyo International University in Japan.
Senior Program Manager, WPS
quan@wps-ph.org
Quan Nguyen Tran is a research associate and coordinator of the Asia Maritime Index project at Tokyo International University and a PhD candidate at Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy. His research focuses on the South China Sea disputes, Vietnam’s foreign policy, maritime security, arms acquisitions, escalation management, and gray-zone contestation.
Program Manager, WPS
michal@maritimeindex.org
Michal Aamaas Aurstad is a Young Leader at Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program and an International Relations graduate student at Waseda University’s Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies in Tokyo. His research interests focus on U.S. alliances, maritime security, and the South China Sea disputes.
Program Associate, WPS
katrina@wps-ph.org
Katrina Tiu is an Asian Studies graduate from the University of Santo Tomas. She is currently a Program Associate at the WPS Foundation. Her research interests include ASEAN affairs, South China Sea disputes, and maritime security.
Program Associate, WPS
marylaurice@wps-ph.org
Mary Laurice Guiling is a Program Associate at WPS Foundation, where she contributes to the development and implementation of the organization’s programs, events, and strategic initiatives. Her work focuses on project coordination, stakeholder engagement, and administrative support for the Foundation. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of Santo Tomas, where she developed a strong interest in research, policy, and program management.
Senior Fellow, WPS
don.gill@dlsu.edu.ph
Don McLain Gill is a geopolitical analyst, author, and lecturer in the Department of International Studies at De La Salle University, Manila. He is also affiliated with the Stratbase ADR Institute, the Impact and Policy Research Institute, and the USANAS Foundation, with research focusing on Philippine foreign policy, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, and India–Southeast Asia security relations. He has published widely in academic and policy outlets, regularly reviews manuscripts for Scopus-indexed journals, and holds an MA in International Relations with Distinction from Oxford Brookes University.
Nonresident Fellow for Marine Environmental Research
Dr Abe Woo received his PhD in Natural History Sciences from Hokkaido University. His interest of study includes systematics, taxonomy, and diversity study of marine invertebrates, focusing on the group Echinoderms. Since 2009, he has been actively uncovering the marine biodiversity and systematics of sea cucumbers across the region. He is currently serving as a senior lecturer in the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia where he is also actively leading several marine biodiversity research in the Southeast Asian region that includes several taxa of marine invertebrate. At the global front, he is a serving in several UN Decade of Ocean Science Program ECOP co-chairs and also an active contributor to the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) programmes. Dr Woo recently graduated from the Advanced Masters in Sustainable Blue Economy from Unviersity of Trieste, Italy that focuses on science diplomacy through management and development of regional blue economy plans. He is now involved in formulating Malaysia’s Blue Economy Blueprint commissioned by the government