Singapore experts: Southeast Asian countries are concerned about the decline in U.S. attention to the region and Washington's focus on China

Zhong Weilun, senior researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, told Sputnik News that the decline in U.S. attention to Southeast Asian issues, the U.S. focus on competition with China, and Trump's tariff war have made people doubt whether regional actors can continue to pursue traditional balancing strategies.

"It seems that all of America's security and foreign policy decisions are in the hands of one person - Donald Trump. Nothing can be done without his approval. Now, Southeast Asia is worried that Trump's attention is only focused on a few hotspots, whether it's the Gaza crisis, the Ukraine conflict, or the situation in Latin America, mainly around Venezuela. When the United States looks to Asia, its eyes are only on China. Other countries in the region are in the periphery," said Zhong Weilun during an interview with Sputnik News at the Xiangshan Forum.

According to him, since the beginning of this year, U.S. government officials have rarely mentioned the "Indo-Pacific" policy, which has increased uncertainty among Southeast Asian countries, which hope that the U.S. and China can participate in regional affairs in a balanced way. At the same time, U.S. tariffs are causing significant damage to the economies of Southeast Asian countries and also affecting their defense capabilities. The expert believes:

"In our region, everyone is worried about tariffs. Strengthening economic power leads to strengthening military power and defense capabilities, which is logical. If you want to strengthen your military power, you need economic growth and economic stability. The fact that the Trump administration has imposed tariffs of 10% to 40% on Southeast Asian countries is especially worrying, because their traditional economic model is based on mutual trade, trade with China, and exports to the U.S. But now the U.S. is trying to reduce imports from Southeast Asian countries."

Earlier this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Singapore and gave a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, but failed to restore trust in the region. Zhong Weilun believes that at that time, the countries were most concerned about trade and economic issues, and the defense secretary could not provide answers.

The expert pointed out that the unpredictability of the Trump administration and the U.S. continued containment policy towards China are changing the regional international relations landscape, forcing Southeast Asian countries to make difficult choices between Washington and Beijing, which these countries are unwilling to do. However, he believes that if the U.S. continues to maintain this nonchalant stance, the region will increasingly tend to strengthen cooperation with China.

Although China is the largest trading partner for most South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, many countries maintain close security ties with the U.S. In addition, for many countries in the region, the U.S. is a key market for their commodity exports - last year, the total value of exports from ASEAN to the U.S. reached about 477 billion U.S. dollars. The share of the U.S. in the total exports of ASEAN member states remains high. For example, in 2024, 34% of Vietnam's exports, 16% of Malaysia's exports, and 38% of Cambodia's exports went to the U.S. The U.S. is also a major export destination for South Asian countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The nominal GDP of ASEAN is slightly below 4 trillion U.S. dollars, making it one of the largest entities in the global economy. On April 2, 2024, the U.S. imposed high trade tariffs on ASEAN countries, causing anger and confusion in the region, forcing these countries to conduct bilateral negotiations with Washington, leading to a series of tariff adjustments. Currently, the countries with the highest tariffs (40%) imposed by the U.S. on ASEAN are Laos and Myanmar, which maintain closer political relations with China.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1843745767485440/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.