News Analysis
As part of its efforts to counter China in the Pacific, the United States turns its attention to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The United States and ASEAN have shared a vision for this region, and together will guard against threats to international rules and norms,” Vice President Kamala Harris told ASEAN members at a meeting on May 13.
The intergovernmental organization consists of 10 countries, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Burma (also known as Myanmar), and Vietnam.
ASEAN has been increasingly slipping into the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) sphere of influence. The ASEAN members have signed onto the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road”). At the same time, many are also members of the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Over the past decade, China has become the block’s largest trading partner, accounting for 24.7 percent of ASEAN’s foreign trade in 2020….