Faced with the structural reality of China, Southeast Asia is trying to turn it into an advantage without losing control of its choices
China-Asean relations are usually described in two ways. One emphasises danger: the South China Sea, US-China rivalry, military pressure and risk of Southeast Asia being pulled into China’s orbit. The other emphasises opportunity: trade, infrastructure, investment, supply chains and shared growth.
Both are true. Neither is enough.
That concern about basic security sat beside China’s technological frontier. Visits to companies involved in the commercial satellite and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft businesses showed a country trying to shape industries, not just join them. An exchange with a leading university added an intellectual dimension: China studies, Southeast Asian studies, Eurasian studies, technology, security, finance, climate and governance increasingly overlap.