Where Great Powers Meet

America and China in Southeast Asia

David Shambaugh

Examines the comprehensive competition between the United States and China, which is the most distinguishing feature of international relations at present and indefinitely into the future
Challenges the pervasive and predominant narrative that China is the "inevitable" dominant power while the US is in inexorable decline
Makes predictions about the future of the relationship between China and the United States

Where Great Powers Meet

America and China in Southeast Asia

David Shambaugh

Description

After the end of the Cold War, it seemed as if Southeast Asia would remain a geopolitically stable region within the American imperious for the foreseeable future. In the last two decades, however, the re-emergence of China as a major great power has called into question the geopolitical future of the region and raised the specter of renewed of great power competition.

As the eminent China scholar David Shambaugh explains in Where Great Powers Meet, the United States and China are engaged in a broad-gauged and global competition for power. While this competition ranges across the entire world, it is centered in Asia, and in this book, Shambaugh focuses the ten countries that comprise Southeast Asia. The United States and China constantly vie for position and influence in this enormously significant region-and the outcome of this contest will do much to determine whether Asia leaves the American orbit after seven decades and falls into a new Chinese sphere of influence. Just as importantly, to the extent that there is a global "power transition" occurring from the US to China, the fate of Southeast Asia will be a good indicator. Presently, both powers bring important assets to bear. The US continues to possess a depth and breadth of security ties, soft power, and direct investment across the region that empirically outweigh China's. For its part, China has more diplomatic influence, much greater trade, and geographic proximity. In assessing the likelihood of a regional power transition, Shambaugh at how ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the countries within it maneuver between the United States and China and the degree to which they align with one or the other power.

Not simply an analysis of the region's place within an evolving international system, Where Great Powers Meet provides us with a comprehensive strategy that advances the American position while exploiting Chinese weaknesses.

Where Great Powers Meet

America and China in Southeast Asia

David Shambaugh

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Chapter 1: Sino-American Competition in Southeast Asia
Part I: The American Encounter with Southeast Asia
Chapter 2: America's Legacies in Southeast Asia
Chapter 3: America's Contemporary Roles in Southeast Asia
Part II: The Chinese Encounter with Southeast Asia
Chapter 4: Chin a's Legacies in Southeast Asia
Chapter 5: Contemporary China's Roles in Southeast Asia
Part III: Southeast Asian Encounters with America and China
Chapter 6: Navigating Between the Giants: ASEAN's Agency
Part IV: The Future of Great Power Relations in Southeast Asia
Chapter 7: Sino-American Competition in Southeast Asia: Polarization or Competitive Coexistence?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

Where Great Powers Meet

America and China in Southeast Asia

David Shambaugh

Author Information

David Shambaugh, Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science, & International Affairs and the founding Director of the China Policy Program, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs

David Shambaugh is Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science, & International Affairs and the founding Director of the China Policy Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He is an internationally recognized authority and award-winning author on contemporary China and the international relations of Asia. An active public intellectual and frequent commentator in the international media, he serves on numerous editorial boards, and has been a consultant to governments, research institutions, foundations, universities, corporations, banks, and investment funds. As an author, Professor Shambaugh has published more than 30 books and 300 articles.

Where Great Powers Meet

America and China in Southeast Asia

David Shambaugh

Reviews and Awards

"What does great power rivalry mean? David Shambaugh provides an engaging and readable account of how the US-China competition is playing out in its Southeast Asian epicenter.One could not ask for a more thoughtful and experienced guide to this fraught relationship." - Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University and author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump

"This timely book on Southeast Asia by a leading American Asia specialist belongs on the desk of every senior US official involved with foreign policy and national security. As US-China rivalry intensifies, the strategic significance of Southeast Asia is also shooting upward. In recent decades the region's economic vibrancy and cooperative relationships have made it a global success story. Now its geographic location is assuming ever greater importance. This book explains why. Deeply researched, it is loaded with background information and astute assessments that should inform the thinking of all those concerned about the future role of the United States in a rapidly changing world." - J. Stapleton Roy, Wilson Center, former US ambassador to Singapore, China, and Indonesia

"Distinguished China scholar David Shambaugh has produced a timely and well-conceived treatment of the battle for influence between the United States and China that is raging across Southeast Asia. With firsthand accounts and deep insights, he has provided a deeply incisive and troubling narrative of a struggle that too often tilts towards Beijing. Current, deeply relevant and powerfully presented, Shambaugh's book lands like a piece of ordnance in a firefight — with a big blast. A must read for anyone seeking to understand the contest for primacy playing out in Southeast Asia." - Hon. Kurt Campbell, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia & Pacific; Chairman & CEO of The Asia Group

"Where Great Powers Meet is about the New Great Game — Sino-American competition in Southeast Asia. David Shambaugh has combined his deep understanding of China, experience in US government with his new immersion in ASEAN to produce a perceptive, balanced and comprehensive study on this dynamic rivalry. He has succinctly captured the nuances in the thinking and responses of the ASEAN states. This book is essential reading for those who wish to make sense of the changing geopolitics of Southeast Asia." - Hon. Chan Heng Chee, Ambassador-at-Large and Chairperson, ISEAS- Yusof-Ishak Institute, Singapore

"Blending historical context with an incisive analysis of current developments and policy prescriptions, David Shambaugh's new book should be read by anyone — from academia or the policy world — who seeks to understand Southeast Asia's crucial role in shaping US-China relations and the 21st century world order." - Amitav Acharya, American University, Washington, D.C.