ARTICLES

22 Mar 2023

China’s Brokering of Iran-Saudi Rapprochement Signals Global Security Initiative Is Working

Ma Bo

Beijing’s mediation of the historic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a sign that its much-vaunted Global Security Initiative is working. The bigger challenge is bringing the GSI into action with respect to the war in Ukraine.

8 Mar 2023

ASEAN’s Engagement in the Indo-Pacific

Pongphisoot Busbarat|Richard Javad Heydarian|Hoang Thi Ha|Shafiah F. Muhibat|Bich Tran

ASEANFocus invites experts to assess ASEAN’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific and how the region can advance its role in shaping the regional architecture amid the shift in the geopolitical landscape.

ASEAN ASEANFocus Indo-Pacfic Regional Cooperation Security

22 Feb 2023

The Chinese Offer of a Global Security Initiative: Anything New?

Zha Daojiong

Zha Daojiong articulates the key principles of China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) and what it means for ASEAN.

ASEAN ASEAN-China Relations ASEANFocus China Security

28 Oct 2022

The Fundamental Tension in Biden’s National Security Strategy

Zack Cooper

Washington’s new National Security Strategy has been carefully crafted, but the document hosts a number of inherent tensions. Foremost among them is the fact that putting democracy at the center of a strategy that is increasingly Asia-focused is ill-advised.

China-U.S. Relations Security U.S. Foreign Policy

26 Oct 2022

The United Kingdom and the Indo-Pacific: “Tilting” or Tottering?

Joanne Lin|William Choong

The United Kingdom (U.K.) has launched a robust “tilt” towards the Indo-Pacific. To its credit, it has executed a series of high-profile diplomatic engagements and military deployments to the region. The question, however, is not about London’s desire to engage with the dynamic region but whether this tilt can be sustained.

AUKUS Indo-Pacfic Security U.K.

29 Jul 2022

Building Peace in Asia: It’s Not the “Asian Way”

Hoang Thi Ha

China’s “Asian way” is an all-embracing idea and a coded language to discredit other countries’ actions that are deemed harmful to China’s strategic interests.

China Chinese Foreign Policy Security South China Sea

26 Jul 2022

The U.S.-China Strategic Competition in the Pacific: Something ASEAN Needs to Watch

Daljit Singh

Beijing’s recent moves to establish security cooperation with Pacific Island states have riled the U.S. and Australia. ASEAN needs to watch the ongoing great power competition there closely to draw lessons for its own security.

ASEAN AUKUS Australia China Maritime Security Pacific Islands Quad Security U.S.

13 Jun 2022

Shangri-La Dialogue 2022: The Paradox of Peace and Power

Hoang Thi Ha

The duel between the ‘rule of law’ and the ‘right of might’ took centre-stage as the Shangri-La Dialogue resumed under the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Southeast Asian countries found it a hard sell to promote cooperative security and ASEAN’s broad-based mechanisms against tough talk by representatives of the major powers.

Defence Indo-Pacfic International Relations Security

10 Jun 2022

The Need for Power Balance Amidst Rising Great Power Contestations

Daljit Singh

ASEAN and its constituent states must not neglect the crucial importance of maintaining a balance of influence and power between the great powers to secure space for their own independence.

ASEAN AUKUS China-U.S. Relations Quad Security

6 Jun 2022

ASEAN Cooperation Post-2025: A Vision for Collaborative Governance

Sanchita Basu Das

As ASEAN emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity for collaborative governance to boost the region’s capacity to meet future challenges in the economy, geopolitics, and the environment.

ASEAN ASEAN Connectivity Asean Trade Digitalisation Security