China, the United States and the Future of Southeast Asia.

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Author: Huang, Chin-Hao
• Date: 01 December 2017

China, the United States and the Future of Southeast Asia. Edited by David B.H. Denoon. New York: New York University Press, 2017. Softcover: 464pp.

David B.H. Denoon's latest edited book brings together a collection of notable experts on Southeast Asian security and international relations. What ties this book together is its thorough coverage on an overarching theme: as Southeast Asia turns into a focal point where tensions between the United States and China are increasing, what kind of influence do Southeast Asian countries wield in the rapidly-changing regional power dynamics?

The different levels of political and economic development, as well as foreign policy priorities, across the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) make it difficult to generalize on a preferred mode of engagement the region pursues in dealing with China and the United States. In the introduction, Denoon acknowledges the "patterns of behavior within ASEAN are quite diverse" (p. 6). Still, one can identify a few emerging trends. For one, geographic proximity makes it a strategic imperative for the region to engage in close business, trade and economic ties with China. Thailand, for instance, is increasingly leaning towards China, in part because of its large ethnic Chinese business elite community that sees the economic benefits of close ties to China. In Chapter Eight, Catharin Dalpino's chapter finds that Laos and Cambodia have also benefited from Chinese largesse in recent years...