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The Rise of ‘Minilateralism’: The ASEAN and its Struggle for Centrality in the South China Sea

By Richard Javad Heydarian

July 14, 2022

The paper analyzes the intersection of three key currents in Asian geopolitics, namely (i) the emergence Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a fulcrum of pan-regional integration, (ii) the evolution of South China Sea disputes as the preeminent geopolitical conflict of the 21st century, if not the site of the next great war; and, (iii) full commencement of the New ...

The ASEAN’s Achilles Heel: Institutional Deficit and Leadership Vacuum Amid China’s South China Sea Aggression

By Richard Javad Heydarian

August 2, 2019

ASEAN, long billed as the most successful model of regional integration in the post-colonial world, has become increasingly powerless in constraining Beijing’s emaciation of a regional rules-based order driven by principles of non-aggression, conflict-avoidance, and liberal multilateralism.

U.S. Perspective on the South China Sea Order: Strategy Under the Trump Administration

By Colin Willet

March 22, 2018

While much of the day-to-day work of managing U.S. diplomatic, economic, and security interactions in Asia seems to have continued unchanged, this belies a very significant difference in the Trump Administration’s apparent view of how the United States should engage with ...

An Effect of Trump and More: The Emerging Retrenchment of China’s Strategic Posture

By Shi Yinhong

March 8, 2018

By concluding that The United States can better achieve its goals by flattering a Chinese leader, Trump seemed to signal a reversal of roles: The United States may now need China’s help more than the other way around. Undoubtedly, President Xi ...

Duterte’s Evolving South China Sea Policy

By Aileen S.P. Baviera

January 25, 2018

Philippine policy on the South China Sea under Duterte is clearly still evolving, and efforts to seek a correct balance between a principled nationalist stand and more pragmatic objectives are bound to encounter many tests.

Philippine Military Pursues Territorial Defense Goals despite Rapprochement between the Philippines and China

By Renato Cruz De Castro

November 14, 2016

President Rodrigo Duterte’s high profile state visit to Beijing in October 2017 led analysts, observers, and decision-makers all over East Asia to conclude the Philippines have turned away from its traditional treaty ally, the United States and have embraced China.