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US Downgrading of Summit Representations Sets Worrying Precedent for ASEAN

Tang Siew Mun|Glenn Ong

The appointment of National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien as the United States' Special Envoy to the East Asia Summit should have been seen as a sign of encouragement due to his close connection to the President. But it may also be perceived as a snub as he will be the first US delegate who is deemed to be not senior enough in the pecking order.

US Conducts 6th South China Sea FONOP under Trump

Ian Storey

In response to the US' latest Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) exercise, China dispatched two warships to warn off the USS Mustin, and proclaimed the mission to be illegal and provocative. So far, only the US is willing to conduct FONOPs around Chinese-occupied features to challenge Beijing's excessive maritime claims.

Dangerous Dichotomy

Malcolm Cook

Recent analyses of a US decline and China's rise in East Asia can illuminate and clarify as much as they obfuscate and confuse.

Duterte’s Aquino Legacies

Malcolm Cook

The ruling by the Arbitration Tribunal on the South China Sea and the U.S.-Philippine Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement are two foreign policy legacies left by the Aquino administration. They will be stumbling blocks to the Duterte administration if it seeks to revise its foreign policy with China and the US.