China-US relations: will spy balloon fallout bring ‘instability’ to Southeast Asia?

Name: ‘A clear overreaction’: Beijing rebukes Washington for shooting down Chinese balloon
Uploaded: 2023-02-07T00:30:10.000Z
Duration: 2 min 43 s
Description: ‘A clear overreaction’: Beijing rebukes Washington for shooting down Chinese balloon

Many Southeast Asian states receive investment from the US and also trade in American services, which enables them to produce items they sell to China

Disruption to this system could hurt Southeast Asia at a time when the region is grappling with inflation and economic contractions, an analyst said

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Southeast Asian countries are wary the US-China fallout over the spy balloon saga could inject instability in the region at a time it faces inflation and economic slowdown, analysts said. Photo: Reuters

Maria Siow

Published: 8:30am, 7 Feb 2023

Southeast Asian countries are wary that the US-China fallout over the spy balloon saga could inject instability in the region at a time it faces inflation and economic slowdown, analysts said, as distrust widens between the world’s two largest economies.

The US military on Saturday shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon that last week crossed into North American airspace, including over sensitive military sites. China insisted it was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions for Washington’s “overreaction”.

The US Senate is due to be briefed this week on the matter, including details of the balloon’s surveillance capabilities, according to majority leader Chuck Schumer, who added that Washington was considering measures for China’s “brazen activities”.

Chong Ja Ian, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said Southeast Asian governments will be closely watching the next steps taken by Beijing and Washington to “punish” each other, and how that could affect regional interests.

02:43

‘A clear overreaction’: Beijing rebukes Washington for shooting down Chinese balloon

Many Southeast Asian states receive investment from the US and also trade substantially in American services, said Chong, adding that it enables the economies to produce items that they sell to China, their largest trading partner.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

China-US relations: will spy balloon fallout bring ‘instability’ to Southeast Asia?

Many Southeast Asian states receive investment from the US and also trade in American services, which enables them to produce items they sell to China Disruption to this system could hurt Southeast Asia at a time when the region is grappling with inflation and economic contractions, an analyst said