Southeast Asia's Survival Strategies in Great Power Competition: A Historical Perspective and Diachronic Comparison

As the U.S.-China rivalry intensifies in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian perspectives on the U.S.-China strategic competition have attracted much attention. This article attempts to analyze the current perspectives of Southeast Asian countries on the U.S., China, and U.S.-China rivalry based on their historical experiences, moving between the experiences of specific countries and the collective experience of ASEAN as a whole. It analyzes Southeast Asian perspectives and strategies on the US-China rivalry through a historical examination of strategies during the Cold War and post-Cold War periods. In addition, this study takes an inductive approach by observing the behaviors of Southeast Asian countries and then abstracting these behaviors, rather than starting from existing theories and interpreting the behaviors of Southeast Asian countries based on these theories. In conclusion, Southeast Asian countries, individually and collectively, have deployed and continue to deploy a combination of realistic but flexible responses such as hedging to great powers. This article demonstrates that these strategies overlap with institutionalist approach, such as the ASEAN-centered multilateralism mostly exercised during the post-Cold War era.