Southeast Asian nations are building a subtle security network through access deals, missile sales, and defense consultations, moving beyond traditional alliances to counter China's influence and growing skepticism of US reliability.
China-Asean relations extend beyond geopolitical tensions and trade opportunities, encompassing food systems, satellites, aircraft, universities, finance, culture, and infrastructure. Southeast Asia navigates these multifaceted interactions, aiming to benefit from China's growth while maintaining control over its choices.
At the Island States Ocean Summit in Tokyo, Japan's Sanae Takaichi presented Japan as a reliable partner for Pacific nations, pledging support against climate change impacts and enhancing maritime security, offering an alternative to superpower influence.
Early May 2026 saw key events in US-China relations: a summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, a US Senate warning on China's nuclear expansion, and a guilty verdict in a New York 'secret police station' case.
US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In this story, part of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we examine how artificial intelligence (AI), chip controls and competing technology ecosystems are redefining US-China rivalry. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was the...
US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the second part of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we look at their make-or-break contest unfolding beneath the ocean surface. Last year’s military blockbuster Operation Hadal was China’s first high-budget film to...
China’s international arbitration efforts have made significant progress, but more work is needed to attract foreign parties to arbitrate in China amid US-China rivalry, according to arbitrators and law scholars. China’s newly revised Arbitration Law took effect in March, marking the most significant overhaul of the country’s commercial dispute framework since 1994, in a move to promote cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to develop into international arbitration centres, competing...
Faced with US-China rivalry and an uncertain future even beyond Donald Trump’s presidency, middle powers are building fluid coalitions and partnerships to hedge against American and wider unpredictability, according to a leading Southeast Asian affairs scholar. Traditional US allies are asserting greater autonomy and forming their own networks to hedge against risks – a shift that is creating openings for smaller neutral states to further diversify their partnerships, while mitigating the danger...
The Strait of Malacca, carrying 40% of global trade and 80% of China's imported oil, faces potential vulnerability amid US-China tensions. Unlike the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Southeast Asian nations managing the waterway—Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore—lack a unified framework to respond to geopolitical pressure, raising concerns about the route's security in any future US-China conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s fourth visit to Beijing in four years has once again drawn attention across Europe and the Atlantic, but perhaps less scepticism than before. In an era marked by intensifying US-China rivalry, geopolitical fragmentation and the European Union’s emphasis on “de-risking”, Spain’s sustained engagement with China is often seen as a strategic divergence from Brussels. That reading, however, underestimates both Spain’s intentions and the broader shift under way...
