Opinion | Will prosperity survive the China-US contest for control of Southeast Asia?
Richard Heydarian writes that as the superpowers vie for the loyalty of smaller nations in the region, the fate of Asian affluence ‘hangs in the balance’
The Sino-American contest for mastery of Southeast Asia is now in full force. In the past week, the two superpowers dispatched their top diplomats for a series of high-velocity meetings aimed at winning the hearts and minds of smaller Southeast Asian countries.
Sensing a new geopolitical chapter is on the horizon, each global giant put forward its own vision of the future – and of the place in it for Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Smaller regional states have, so far, welcomed this competition with cautious optimism, hoping to reap maximum economic and geostatic benefits – short of getting dragged into a zero-sum, all-out conflict between the US and China.
After four decades of detente, the velvet gloves are off. China, buoyed by its growing power base and US President Donald Trump’s increasing isolation of the US internationally, has begun to challenge America’s role in the world as never before.
Earlier this month, China’s state councillor and foreign minister, Wang Yi, was on top form, holding press conferences and bilateral meetings with diplomats globally with verve and vigour.