My Take | Asean must step up or risk losing everything

A recent satirical headline gone viral online is worthy of the Onion, the American comedic publication: “We’re Having Trouble Finding Asian Countries Willing to Shoot Missiles at China.” The subhead chastises those countries for not being “democratic enough” to be willing to risk the lives of their citizens for the great American endeavour. The writer is supposedly Raymond L. Bloodthirst Jnr.

Satire succeeds when it speaks the truth in a funny way. When US President Joe Biden last week declared US relations with Asean nations were entering a “new era” of cooperation, it mostly meant sending the White House National Security Council’s chief of staff as the new envoy to the region. The message is clear: bullets, not butter, for Southeast Asia. Biden was hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Washington.

Satire exaggerates to make a point; it’s not always fair. So, let us try to present a fairer picture.

Asean nations actually want the United States for the security and stability it has traditionally provided in their region. It also wants China for the trade and prosperity it has to offer for their economies. However, Washington now demands the kind of security which amounts to an alliance of containment against China, a so-called Asian Nato. Meanwhile, Beijing is more than happy to exploit its economic prowess and trade advantages to gain leverage or even dominance over the region.

But as Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned recently, the US must refrain from pressuring Asian nations to reject China’s overtures of cooperation.

Speaking about the US pivot in Asia, Lee said that while Singapore supported Washington’s presence in the region, “that does not mean we fight your wars or that we are expecting you to ride to our rescue should something happen to us”.