The experience of Southeast Asia and the South China Sea islands presents a lesson of what unfolds if regional governments fail to build strong, united fronts. As discussed earlier, despite the Association of Southeast Asian Nations being a long-established institution, its ten members have been too weak to deal with China’s building of military bases in the South China Sea. The result is that these shipping lanes, a lifeblood of global trade, are policed by American warships that routinely come face-to-face with the Chinese military, thus giving food to the new Cold War narrative.
