Examining the new Asean regional order shaped by US-Chinese strategic competition-through the lens of health security

Abstract

The strategic competition between China and the United States in the 21st century has changed the regional order in Asia, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as an important region in Asia, has also been affected. Since the end of the Cold War, global politics has begun to consider non-traditional security, including security issues related to the environment, public health, and culture. To understand how US-China competition affects ASEAN, this article will focus on public health security, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper analyzes some ways in which China and the United States cooperate and confront the field of public health security in the ASEAN region in the 21st century, focusing on the role of vaccine diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and discussing the impact of other countries, alliances and activities on the ASEAN order. This paper finds that initial assistance from China in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic improved China's image in the region and resulted in positive engagement with ASEAN. While US domestic priorities and disputes and US withdrawal from international health organizations meant that the US provided little to no help to ASEAN in the early stages of the pandemic. But by mid-2021, especially with the western COVID-19 vaccine, the US has won more support in the ASEAN region. The strategic competition between China and the United States in the field of health security enables the ASEAN region to maintain strategic autonomy through an equal balance with major powers such as China and the United States.