The world will be watching anxiously over the next 10 days as President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden duel over who will become the United States' next leader.
Despite Mr Trump's attempts to change his trailing campaign's trajectory during the final debate last Thursday, CNN reported the next day that Mr Biden is still leading national polls by up to 10 percentage points.
A separate poll for CNN of 585 voters who watched the debate found that 53 per cent thought Mr Biden did the better job, while 39 per cent opted for Mr Trump.
The stakes for Asia remain high, whoever wins.
Although intensifying US-China competition is inevitable no matter what the outcome is, how tensions will be tackled under a Biden presidency may improve soured trade ties that have cost the global economy billions of dollars, say experts.
Yet China may welcome a second Trump term as his America First policies hand Chinese President Xi Jinping the opportunity to cement his nation's rise as a global superpower.
The implications of the Nov 3 election for Asia will be examined in a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, which will be presented by the East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu and in Washington, in partnership with The Straits Times.
It will feature George Washington University's Professor Robert Sutter and ST's Washington-based US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh as well as other journalists from Asia, with the session moderated by Dr Satu Limaye, vice-president and director of the East-West Center in Washington.
Prof Sutter teaches international affairs at George Washington University and is co-author of EWC's US Asia Policy And Debate In The 2020 Elections And Regional Response report, which assesses key issues in US regional relations and the concerns of regional allies.
Mr Ghosh took up his assignment in Washington in 2016 and hosts the paper's ST Asian Insider video series that showcases an Asian perspective on global talking points of the week.
He noted that in some senses, the whole of humanity is a stakeholder in the idea of the United States of America: "Now as the US barrels towards the most consequential election in its modern history, more is at stake than just its own future.
"Who wins the White House will have ramifications across the planet, but arguably nowhere more so than in Asia."
Dr Limaye is the creator and director of the Asia Matters for America initiative that maps trade, investment and diplomacy connections between the US and the Indo-Pacific through publications, data visualisations and other resources.
The East-West Center is an independent, non-profit organisation that promotes better relations between the US, Asia and the Pacific through cooperative study, research and dialogue.
The webinar is open to the public and will be held from 9am to 10.30am on Wednesday. Registration is at https://str.sg/J6Ep
