An African proverb -- "when elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled" -- has particular resonance these days in Southeast Asia, where a deepening struggle between two global giants is a serious threat for the region's relatively small states.
A survey by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore ought therefore to raise alarm bells for regional observers. More than two-thirds of 1,000 respondents from the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations believe the U.S. and China are on a collision course in the region, according to the survey, the State of Southeast Asia: 2019, published in early February.
