COVID-19 will shake ASEAN relations with China and US for years ahead

Aid to relieve mounting debt will force individual countries to make lasting choices

Takashi Shiraishi

August 11, 2020 20:00 JST

20200807 ASEAN representatives Jakarta.JPG

Representatives of ASEAN countries, pictured in Jakarta on Jan. 10: ASEAN countries incur higher risks of regime change. © Reuters

Takashi Shiraishi served as president of Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies from 2011-2017.

Among the many questions arising from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent speech declaring an end to America's "blind engagement" with China, one that has gone unanswered is what impact the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry will have on the Indo-Pacific, and in particular on the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.