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Asean
OpinionComment
Zhai Kun
Zhai Kun

Opinion | As Biden seeks to contain China’s regional influence, Asean can offer a platform for Sino-US cooperation instead

  • The US seeks an Asean alliance that undermines the bloc’s partnership with China, but the fact is Southeast Asia can benefit from both
  • An Asean-led strategy in the Indo-Pacific can promote the region’s own interests while providing ground for building mutual tolerance between the US and China

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Zhai Kun
The Indo-Pacific region remains the primary focus of US foreign policy, despite warnings by senior US officials that a war between Ukraine and Russia could “start at any time”. In its long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy, revealed last Friday, the US made clear that Southeast Asia would be at the centre of its plans for the region.

While this strategy has been taking shape, the contest between the US and China in the region has been heating up. The newly-released document indicates that the US’ goal “is not to change China, but to shape the strategic environment in which it operates, building a balance of influence in the world that is maximally favourable to the United States, our allies and partners”.

Although US officials have denied that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is in fact a China strategy, it is pretty clear that the US intends to use alliances to better contain China.

As the US outlines its elaborate grand narrative, China has already made substantial progress in Southeast Asia by taking a step-by-step approach. Last year, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) stepped up cooperation in the development of the region’s digital, blue and low-carbon economies. The opening of the China-Laos railway in December also marked a step towards the realisation of a China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor and Trans-Asian Railway.
In November, the two sides officially upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, promising all-around cooperation. However, the most crucial aspect of their agreement is often overlooked: President Xi Jinping made it clear that China supports the Asean Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, the bloc’s own regional strategy, as well as cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Outlook.
Despite these offers of allyship pouring in, Southeast Asia is regrettably facing deeper US military involvement and slow progress in negotiations over the South China Sea code of conduct.
While US President Joe Biden wants to restructure the Indo-Pacific at China’s expense, the Asean Outlook paints a better future for all. Indeed, it may be the key to unlocking China-US mutual tolerance in Southeast Asia, with the potential for the two sides to promote inclusive regional cooperation.

The Asean Outlook on the Indo-Pacific was drafted by Indonesia and is promoted by Asean member states. Although the US, Japan, India, Australia and the EU have all developed their own Indo-Pacific strategies, the Asean concept is the one most universally accepted. In addition, the critical areas of cooperation and relevant terms and definitions outlined in the framework are fairly neutral, emphasising inclusiveness and opposing the exclusion of China.

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