Asean countries warned against exploiting US-China tensions for short-term gain

Chinese political scientist Zheng Yongnian cautions that while it is possible for smaller countries to navigate among major powers, “it requires a high level of finesse”.

Photo: VCG via Getty Images A prominent Chinese political scientist has cautioned Southeast Asian countries against leveraging China-US tensions for short-term benefits, saying this strategy could backfire.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia on Friday, Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said that in the context of South China Sea sovereignty disputes, the key challenge lay in how countries interpreted the China-US rivalry. “Many countries believe that China and the US are inevitably heading towards confrontation, perhaps even a direct conflict, so they try to leverage the tensions between China and the US for their own benefit,” he said. “I think this is understandable.

However, this approach certainly has its limits – if it exceeds those limits, the country itself will inevitably become a victim.” Zheng said that nations in the region “should not assume that the US will back them or that they can leverage China-US tensions to advance their own interests”.

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) face a precarious balancing act between the US and China, the bloc’s largest trading partner.

Meanwhile, both Beijing and Washington have ramped up their naval presence in the South China Sea over the past years.

China claims most of the islands and rocks in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters, leading to persistent territorial disputes with Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.

Tensions between Beijing and Manila have escalated sharply in recent years, sometimes resulting in clashes.

To counter China’s claims, the US has stepped up defence cooperation and conducted regular naval operations with its long-time treaty ally the Philippines, maintaining a strong presence in the area.

Manila, which took over the rotating Asean chair on January 1, is pushing to seal a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea.

Zheng noted that many countries assumed that if a conflict arose between China and the Philippines, the US would definitely side with Manila.

However, he said that was not guaranteed. “It is possible to navigate among major powers, but it requires a high level of finesse.

Without that, you risk getting caught up and harming yourself,” he said.

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