New Report | Prioritizing Southeast Asia in American China Policy

NEW YORK; August 1, 2023 – A new US-China Policy Task Force report, Prioritizing Southeast Asia in American China Policyoutlines why Southeast Asia is a critically important but underappreciated region when it comes to US interests and US competition with China, and recommends actions for the US government in the face of China’s growing influence in the region.

Southeast Asia has become, in recent decades, a growth engine for the world economy, with a combined GDP among its 11 countries of more than 3.6 trillion dollars. Much of the world’s trade moves through the strategically important waters of Southeast Asia: the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

China is now the region’s main trading partner and one of its main investors. While many Southeast Asians view their region’s economic relationship with China favorably, concerns are growing about how China uses its economic clout to influence politically and strategically position itself, sometimes at the expense of Southeast Asian interests. In response, Southeast Asians are increasingly looking for ways to counter China’s growing influence in the region.

The report explains why there is room, and good reason, for the United States to strengthen its already considerable economic, political, and strategic ties with the region. It includes perspectives shared by Southeast Asian policy experts from each of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, in two days of closed-door dialogue with the US Policy Task Force and China. Working Group on Southeast Asiaorganized by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore in May 2023, under the Chatham House Rule.

He US-China Policy Task Force is co-chaired by the Vice President of the Asia Society and Arthur Ross, Director of the Center for US-China Relations Orville Schelland by Susanna Shirkfounding president of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California, San Diego.

The report provides recommendations for US policy both from the perspective of the Task Force’s Southeast Asian dialogue partners and from the Task Force itself.

Southeast Asian recommendations include:

• Be consistent in the US approach to the region. Episodic, inconsistent, and self-serving government engagement has been America’s greatest failure and weakness, leading to the perception that the United States may not be a reliable long-term partner.
• Forget American “primacy.” The region is now genuinely multipolar. The Americas is just one of several regional players.
• Enter the regional economic game. It is imperative to join the regional economic organizations. If you can’t join CPTPP or RCEP, seriously think about negotiating a US-ASEAN regional foreign trade agreement.
• Significantly improve US diplomacy and public diplomacy. Show Southeast Asians that they matter to America, and improve your ability to tell what America is already doing to help them.
• Take ASEAN seriously as an organization. Increase the staffing of the US Mission to ASEAN and develop ASEAN-wide initiatives, rather than simply pursuing bilateral relationships.

The Task Force’s recommendations include:

• Resist viewing the region only or primarily through the lens of competition with China.
• Increase high-level US government visits to Southeast Asia
• Strengthen the capabilities of US embassies throughout the region
• Create a Regional Development Initiative that offers aid and other assistance to improve public health, food and water security, environmental sustainability, and more.
• Increase US public diplomacy and strengthen US soft power and influence.
• Enhance diplomatic relations and interactions with ASEAN
• Leverage US strengths in trade, with the US as part of the regional economic architecture
• Strengthen US intelligence and counterintelligence cooperation with its Southeast Asian counterparts
• Continue the full range of military/security assistance programs in the country

The Working Group on Southeast Asia was chaired by David ShambaughGaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science, and International Affairs and Director, China Politics Program, The George Washington University, who was also the lead author of the report.

Other members of the Working Group were:

• Orville SchellVice President and Arthur Ross Director, Center for US-China Relations, Asia Society
• danny russelvice president for international security and diplomacy, Asia Society Policy Institute and former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2013–2017)
• Ambassador Charlene BarshefskyPresident of Parkside Global Advisors and former US Trade Representative (1997–2001)
• Professor Steven F. JacksonMember, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Mary Kay MagistryDeputy Director, Center for US-China Relations, Asia Society and former NPR Southeast Asia correspondent
• zack cooperPrincipal Investigator, American Enterprise Institute
• Lieutenant Gene. (Rd.), Karl W. EikenberryFormer US Ambassador to Afghanistan (2009–2011).

Download the full report here. To speak with one of the report authors, email pr@asiasociety.org.