About the 12th ASEAN and Asia Forum

Thursday, 29 August 2019

ASEAN is facing political and economic uncertainty as Sino-American tensions intensify. The conflict has affected supply chains and business sentiments, and there is increasing concern that the standoff is about more than trade and technology. Unless China and the United States can resolve their differences, the world may see a scenario where the two great powers are locked in strategic competition, with Asia caught in between. ASEAN is already being courted by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while the US hopes to make ASEAN the geographic centre of its Indo-Pacific Strategy.