Rely on the potential of the region
Beijing noticed in the region – at a meeting led by ASEAN, no less – than “China is a large country and that other countries are small countries, and this is only a fact”. Applicants of the Southern China Sea also know too well what a territorial aggressive China is capable.
Beijing's most recent warning against any transaction between the United States and other countries “to the detriment of Chinese interests” places Southeast Asia in opinion given the importance of the region in the global technological value chain.
However, Trump has also explicit that Washington will return to his imperial instincts, declaring in his second inaugural address that “the United States will consider himself again as a growing nation – that which increases our wealth, extends our territory, strengthens our cities, increases our expectations and transports our flag in new and beautiful horizons”.
Trump's America FIRST policy is simply a non-filtered version of the long-standing utility utility approach to Southeast Asia which has undergone various iterations in recent decades: from the ideological confrontation of the Cold War which has been the subject of a Southeast Asia in the south-east of the south-east of the “second front” of the Washington campaign.
The meaning of the region is again to the point while Beijing and Washington slip it into the race for technological supremacy.
Southeast Asia has certainly benefited from the main competitive powers on diplomatic, economic and socio-cultural fronts. But the population of the region would be better served in the 21st century by political elites by building the collective potential of Southeast Asia in a new and creative way, rather than putting trivial arguments on the reasons why the region is important for the self-interests of metropolises nearby and far.
After all, if the world is to be reorganized, its stories should also.
Elina Noor is a senior member of the Asia Endowment for International Peace Asia program in Washington, DC. This commentary appeared for the first time On the Lowy Institute's blog, the interpreter.
