Southeast Asia and China: A Contest in Mutual Socialization.

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Date: 01 December 2018
• Author: Das, Sanchita Basu

Southeast Asia and China: A Contest in Mutual Socialization, edited by Lowell Dittmer and Ngeow Chow Bing. Singapore: World Scientific, 2017. Pp. 300.

A focus on the relationship between China and countries in the Southeast Asian region solely based on issues regarding the South China Sea (SCS) is incomplete. The relationship is much deeper and broader, and includes far-reaching economic linkages between these countries. To resolve the political-economic conundrum, the ten small Southeast Asian countries have adopted the "ASEAN way", a normative mechanism to manage peace and stability in the region. While the SCS issue has the potential for conflict, economic integration is promoted as a constructive way to enhance growth and prosperity. Southeast Asia and China: A Contest in Mutual Socialization provides a detailed account of this well-encompassing, though at times conflicting, relationship between China and Southeast Asia, or ASEAN. It examines ASEAN's norm of accommodation and differentiates it from the Western concept of sovereignty to explain how countries like Malaysia and China dilute the controversies around the territorial dispute and maintain cordial economic relationships with each other.

The edited volume is organized into three sections--Politics, Economics, and Norms--and twelve chapters (including the introduction), that are written by renowned Southeast Asian scholars.

The section on politics is the longest and discusses the issue bilaterally among the claimant states. Ngeow Chow Bing, as the author of the lead...