Southeast Asia’s Real Choices Lie Beyond the ‘Swing State’ Paradigm – The Diplomat

Southeast Asian states have understandably continued to resist the need to make aggregate choices amid growing U.S.-China competition, even as there is increasing scrutiny from both Beijing and Washington about countries allegedly swinging or tilting from one power to another. Yet in conversations with policymakers from all 11 countries in Southeast Asia over the past year, it has been clear that the very focus on an aggregate U.S.-China choice also belies the more consequential strategic question of the individual choices that Southeast…