Richard Javad Heydarian, Professorial Chairholder in Geopolitics, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Oct 26, 2021
Both the EU and ASEAN have largely criticized the newly announced AUKUS deal, leaving many European nations and China’s neighboring states scrambling to respond to the addition of nuclear submarines to Australia’s arsenal.
Chen Zinan, Assistant Researcher, Maritime Strategy Studies, CICIR
Sep 18, 2021
Maintaining the old zero-sum mentality against China, the United States starts with its own interests in mind, rather than the needs of the island nations. Its diplomatic and military focus will not contribute to development and will ultimately fail.
Li Yan, Deputy Director of Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
Aug 23, 2021
For a decade, the focus of the United States has shown a high degree of continuity, starting with George W. Bush and followed by Barack Obama, Donald Trump and now Joe Biden. But America is now paying greater attention to detail and adding new features to its geostrategic approach.
Richard Javad Heydarian, Professorial Chairholder in Geopolitics, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Aug 12, 2021
The U.S. has seemingly pulled out all the stops to advance its agenda in Southeast Asia, hoping to entice countries away from China. Yet, as members of China’s neighborhood, ASEAN members will find it hard to create distance between themselves and China, literally and figuratively.
Su Jingxiang, Fellow, China Institutes for Contemporary International Relations
Nov 12, 2020
The U.S. has placed the other members of the group in a disadvantageous position, expecting each of them to confront China. Instead, what they will discover is that they are missing out on the benefits China offers.
Richard Javad Heydarian, Professorial Chairholder in Geopolitics, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Jun 21, 2019
The behavior of both US and Chinese officials at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue signaled the end of a period of relative peace in the Indo-Pacific region. The smaller states are increasingly concerned that the two superpowers will simply stumble into war, and urge the two to find common ground on shared challenges to maintain a peaceful relationship.
Dan Steinbock, Founder, Difference Group
Nov 15, 2017
Trump’s grueling 12-day Asia tour was a quest for mega deals. But as U.S. policies in Asia are shifting, a stress on competitive U.S.-Chinese visions neglects a historic bilateral opportunity to redefine global integration.
Alek Chance, Research Fellow, Institute for China-America Studies
Mar 02, 2017
If Americans interpret current Chinese activities to be a reaction to American weakness, they will likely come to a very different understanding of Beijing’s motives than if they viewed China’s actions as a response to American strength. Unfortunately, much of the discussion on this topic issues from assumptions that are not always critically evaluated.
Richard Javad Heydarian, Professorial Chairholder in Geopolitics, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Jan 24, 2017
Since his election in mid-2016, the Philippines’ tough-talking mayor-turned-president, Rodrigo Duterte, has lavished Russia with praise. Moscow’s rapprochement with Manila is part of a broader effort by the Eurasian powerhouse to assert its long-diminished strategic presence in the Far East and the Western Pacific, including in the South China Sea.
Zhou Bo, Senior Fellow, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University
Jan 25, 2017
Like the confidence-building measures that have maintained peace and stability along the disputed China-India border, a code of conduct agreement with ASEAN will smooth relations and invite new cooperation — without regard to the Philippines’ improper and unilateral appeal for outside arbitration.