WASHINGTON - The United States should give South-east Asia higher priority in foreign policy and engage more deeply with the region, especially on trade, viewing the region on its own intrinsic merits rather than through the prism of Sino-American competition, concludes a new report by the Asia Society.

Drawing on extensive consultations in the region, the report, titled Prioritising South-east Asia In American China Strategy, emerged from closed-door meetings in Singapore in May with 22 leading experts and former officials from every Asean country, and eight Americans from the Asia Society’s Task Force on US-China Policy – a consortium of leading China specialists from the US.

Recommendations for the US from the South-east Asian nations consulted include consistency and reliability in the US’ approach to the region.

Others include listening to what South-east Asians want – trade agreements – and recognising that the US is just one of many regional actors.

The US must also improve public diplomacy in South-east Asia, and take Asean seriously as an organisation, the report said.

South-east Asia has, in recent decades, become “an engine of growth for the global economy, with a combined GDP (gross domestic product) among its 11 nations of more than US$3.6 trillion (S$4.8 trillion)”, it notes.

South-east Asian states do not wish to be “forced to choose” between the US and China, the report says.

Instead, the region seeks to maximise benefits from both, even amid “a growing sense of unease as (its) autonomy and freedom of manoeuvre are shrinking as Sino-American competition intensifies”.

While China is now the region’s top trading partner and one of its top investors, and many South-east Asians view their region’s economic relationship with China favourably, concern is growing about how China uses its economic clout for political leverage and strategic positioning, says the report.

“In response, South-east Asians are increasingly seeking ways to counterbalance China’s growing influence in the region,” it adds. “There is room, and good reason, for the United States to strengthen its already considerable economic, political and strategic ties with the region.”  

Veteran China scholar David Shambaugh, who is Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science and International Affairs and director of the China Policy Programme at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, told The Straits Times that “this is all about getting US-China policy right”.

Prof Shambaugh conceptualised the project, which was driven by a belief that South-east Asia is a critically important, but too often underappreciated region when it comes to US interests and US competition with China.

“What we did not want to do… was simply write another report by Americans, for Americans, that doesn’t really listen to… how people in other regions view the US-China relationship,” said the professor, who, among other things, authored the 2020 book Where Great Powers Meet: America And China In South-east Asia.

“This was a listening exercise,” he added. “Americans have a bad problem of just imposing their own viewpoints on others. And this time we thought we should really listen sincerely, carefully. And our South-east Asian counterparts should offer their views as candidly and constructively as possible. And, they did.”

The report has a section of verbatim quotes from the South-east Asians consulted.

Among them, one reads: “Many in the region see the US as being provocative. There is a sense that the momentum is towards the US demonising China, and the US should not do that. This is creating sympathy for China.”

Another states that “version 3.0 of the Asean-China FTA (free trade agreement) is coming soon, which will further reduce tariffs. That will move the needle for Asean. The US needs to do things that move the needle – and if the US cannot negotiate trade agreements, what can it do?”.

Yet another states that “the US must join the regional economic architecture and pursue a regional FTA. Mutual market access is key”.

Said Prof Shambaugh: “This is a report written for the American government. We, Americans, wrote this for our own government to try and improve our position in the region, but not just vis-a-vis China.”

The No. 1 takeaway is that the US should not view South-east Asia through only the prism of competition with China, but must take the region seriously on its own intrinsic merits, he said.

“The second big takeaway is that the US has intrinsic strengths in the region that are totally underappreciated. So if South-east Asia is not appreciated inside the beltway in Washington, the reverse is equally true in the region.”

Prof Shambaugh said his favourite statistic is that US investment in South-east Asia is more than China, Japan and South Korea combined on aggregate. And it is more than twice what China invests on an annual basis in the region.

“How many South-east Asians know that? Not many. So part of the problem is just an information problem.”

Some of that has to do with the failure of American public diplomacy to inform South-east Asians about what the US is doing, he said.

“We have to improve South-east Asians’ understanding of the United States and what it provides for in the region, just as we have to improve Americans’ understanding of South-east Asia inside the beltway, much less across the country.”

The third big takeaway has to do with the trade agenda, said Prof Shambaugh.

“We offer a couple of alternatives of sub-regional FTAs or trade liberalisation agreements that don’t have to be called an FTA.”

Prof Shambaugh noted, however, that notwithstanding the criticism, “we found a really deep reservoir of goodwill, a really sincere desire, for the United States not just to be there but to do more, and to participate more”.