China-asean Relations: Perspectives, Prospects and Implications for U.s. Interests

Relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have undergone significant changes over the past 15 years. Asean's concerns over Beijing's drive for military modernization and its assertive posture in territorial disputes over the South China Sea of the early 1990s are replaced with growing economic ties and shared geo-political interests for building regional security through multilateral processes. Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Beijing has expanded its influence as a major political force in the region and a locomotive for economic recovery and future opportunity. What explains China's successful diplomatic offensive and what implications do closer China-Asean ties have for the United States? In this monograph, Dr. Jing-dong Yuan of the Monterey Institute of International Studies seeks to answer these questions by tracing the evolution of China-Asean relations since the early 1990s and examining some of the key factors that have contributed to. . .