The Role Of Southeast Asia In U S Strategy Toward China

China's geopolitical ambitions and growing military capabilities and theSoutheast Asian states' perceptions of a rising China will play a crucial role in shaping the future of Southeast Asia and the U.S. military posture in the region. The authors examine the role of regional states in developing a hedge against the possible emergence of an overly aggressive China. They find that rather than confronting a conventional attack, theUnited States and the Southeast Asian countries are likely to find a continuation of China's creeping irredentism and ambiguous threats. Southeast Asia is likely to prove a critical testing ground for a third way of dealing with China's rising power--what in other RAND work has been called a policy of congagement--that seeks to integrate China into theinternational system while both deterring and preparing for a possible Chinese challenge.The report recommends that the United States adopt an incremental approach to this hedging strategy, focusing on peacetime military engagement with Southeast Asian states, development of a more robust and diversified network of access arrangements, and strengthened military ties with the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia,and Vietnam.

Chinese behavior in Southeast Asia and the growth of Chinese military capabilities have aroused apprehension among countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). How they react to a "rising China" could have major implications for U.S. interests, military requirements, and the USAF posture in the region. This study examines the implications of a rising China for U.S. security strategy and defense planning in Southeast Asia. In particular, it addresses the following questions: what role are the ASEAN states likely to play in developing a hedge against the possible emergence of an overtly aggressive China? If China emerges as a hostile competitor, are the ASEAN states likely to contribute to a United States-led effort to deter or oppose a Chinese challenge to regional security? What is the most effective strategy for pursuing cooperative military arrangements with the ASEAN states?

Barack Obama’s "rebalancing" or "pivot" strategy, intended to demonstrate continued US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region in a variety of military, economic, and diplomatic contexts, was launched with much fanfare in 2011. Implicit in the new strategy is both a focus on China – engagement with, and containment of – and a heavy reliance by the United States on its existing friends and allies in the region in order to implement its strategy. This book explores the impact of the new strategy on America’s regional friends and allies. It shows how these governments are working with Washington to advance and protect their distinct national interests, while at the same time avoiding any direct confrontation with China. It also addresses the reasons why many of these regional actors harbour concerns about the ability of the US to sustain the pivot strategy in the long run. Overall, the book illustrates the deep complexities of the United States’ exercise of power and influence in the region.

This volume, with its wide range of perspectives, makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing policy and academic dialogue on a rising China. It examines a range of perspectives on the nature of China‘s rise and its implications for Southeast Asian states as well as US interests in the region.

China's growing economy and military power may allow it to challenge US influence in East and Southeast Asia. Wayne Bert examines the likelihood of this and the impact it would have on Southeast Asian security. The approach taken by both the US and China will affect the outcome of this struggle and both the Southeast Asian commitment to economic growth and the development of regional institutions will encourage peaceful evolution and a power transition that avoids major conflict.

China’s rise and stepped-up involvement in Southeast Asia have prompted a blend of anticipation and unease among its smaller neighbors. The stunning growth of China has yanked up the region’s economies, but its militarization of the South China Sea and dam building on the Mekong River has nations wary about Beijing’s outsized ambitions. Southeast Asians long felt relatively secure, relying on the United States as a security hedge, but that confidence began to slip after the Trump administration launched a trade war with China and questioned the usefulness of traditional alliances. This compelling book provides a snapshot of ten countries in Southeast Asia by exploring their diverse experiences with China and how this impacts their perceptions of Beijing’s actions and its long-term political, economic, military, and “soft power” goals in the region.

V. 1. description: The first of a three-volume series on the interaction of the US and China in different regions of the world, China, the United States, and the Future of Central Asia explores the delicate balance of competing foreign interests in this resource-rich and politically tumultuous region. Editor David Denoon and his internationally renowned set of contributors assess the different objectives and strategies the U.S. and China deploy in Central Asia and examine how the two world powers are indirectly competitive with one another for influence in the region.

In East Asia, the United States is often acknowledged as a key determinant of stability given its military presence and role as a security guarantor. In the post-Cold War period, regional uncertainties about the potential dangers attending a rising China have led some analysts to conclude that almost all Southeast Asian states now see the United States as the critical balancing force. In contrast, based on case studies of Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, this study argues that key states in the region do not perceive themselves as having the stark choices of either balancing against or bandwagoning with China. Instead, they pursue hedging strategies that comprise three elements: indirect balancing, which mainly involves persuading the United States to act as counterweight to Chinese regional influence; complex engagement of China at the political, economic, and strategic levels, with the hope that Chinese leaders may be socialized into conduct that abides by international norms; and a more general policy of enmeshing a number of regional great powers in order to give them a stake in a stable regional order. The study also investigates each state?s perceptions of the American role in regional security and discusses how they operationalize their hedging policies against a potential U.S. drawdown in the region, as well as the different degrees to which they use their relationships with the United States as a hedge against potential Chinese domination. Finally, it discusses these states? expectations of what the United States should do to help in their hedging strategies toward China, suggesting a range of policies that span the military as well as political, diplomatic, and economic realms. This is the sixteenth publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center Washington series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner.