Security
-
20th Century Regional Security: A Look Back at Post-War Vietnamese Nationalism and Southeast Asia
As we return to regional politics and relations focused on ideas of isolationism, regional rivalry and geopolitical control, nationalism is once again becoming a dominant trend of international politics across many regions and political ideas. In an attempt to understand how truly underlying such ideas of nationalism are on regional…
-
The China-Thailand Crackdown on Myanmar’s Scam Hubs: A Long-Overdue Reckoning or Another Short-Lived Fix?
The sprawling networks of scam operations in Myanmar’s border regions, particularly in Shwe Kokko and Myawaddy, have long been an open secret. These illicit compounds, operated primarily by Chinese criminal syndicates, have trafficked tens of thousands of individuals, coercing them into fraudulent online schemes that have siphoned billions of dollars…
-
Why ASEAN Should Not Do More for Myanmar
ASEAN is right not to engage in the Myanmar conflict more forcefully and should focus on its own initiatives without their problematic neighbor. Since the inception of the current civil war in Myanmar, any discussion of ASEAN’s place in the world has unavoidably been paired with its inability to resolve…
-
SEATO: The Tantalizing Promise of Nato’s Forgotten Counterpart in the Indo-Pacific
The past failures of SEATO highlight the challenges of forming regional alliances in Southeast Asia and demonstrate that economic cooperation are more viable than security partnerships like NATO. With a Trump 2.0 administration increasingly focusing on China and Southeast Asia in 2025, a look at the regional alliance structure of…
-
Trump’s Gaza Plan Sparks Outrage in Southeast Asia, Paving Way for Chinese Diplomatic Gains
On February 4th, President Trump declared that the United States would “take over the Gaza strip,” and “own it.” The announcement, made at a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sparked global shock and condemnation. Southeast Asian countries, several of which have sizable Muslim demographics, have…
Sino-Southeast Initiative 