Advertisement
Southeast Asia barely features in America’s new security strategy
The region appears just twice in the new 32-page US National Security Strategy, raising fears it is being relegated to a ‘bargaining chip’
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
16
Washington’s latest national security blueprint may be one of its most consequential in years, yet it barely mentions Southeast Asia.
Analysts say that absence speaks volumes, signalling a narrowing of American priorities that risks turning the region into a “bargaining chip” in the US-China rivalry.
The National Security Strategy published by the White House on December 4 presents the Trump administration’s vision for restoring “American economic independence”, alongside preventing conflict in the Indo-Pacific, as the twin pillars of its “America first” doctrine.
Advertisement
It calls for fairness and reciprocity in global commerce and for robust measures to “prevent war in the Indo-Pacific”. But Southeast Asia appears only twice in its 32 pages – mentioned once in passing as a market for China’s “enormous excess capacity” and again as a distinct theatre from Northeast Asia.
Asia is primarily seen as a site for righting trade imbalances
That singular focus on China at Southeast Asia’s expense in the first such blueprint to be issued since 2022 “comes as a disappointment, but not a surprise”, Kevin Chen, an associate research fellow with Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ US programme, told This Week in Asia.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x