Southeast Asia Hedging Bets and Alignment Webs Beyond the US-China Lens
Southeast Asian states are exercising agency in the face of intensifying U.S.-China competition by shaping their own alignment networks and grand strategy spheres. The region's diverse historical experience with various alignments suggests a complex and evolving approach to geopolitics and geoeconomics.
Southeast Asia's geopolitical landscape is shifting amid U.S.-China power distributions. A new book, 'Mandalas of Multialignment,' argues that the region's states are exercising agency by shaping their own alignment networks. Historically, Southeast Asian states have made various alignment choices, including tighter alignments like formal alliances and looser ones like strategic partnerships. Examples of these choices include U.S. trade deals and overflight security arrangements. The region's past experiences, such as Thailand's alliance with imperial Japan and Vietnam's brief alliance with the Soviet Union, demonstrate the complexity of alignments. Southeast Asian states can proactively shape their own futures by weaving alignment webs within their own 'North Stars' in geopolitics and geoeconomics.
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