ASEAN's Position in the Current Sino-American Conflict

In the XXI century, the fluidity of the international political and economic situation, the unpredictable policies of a number of states and, first of all, the United States, which continues to defend its role as the world dominant, coupled with the rapid increase in the power of a new challenger, China, forced states and supranational regional structures involved in international relations, exercise caution and make more active use of opportunities for the development of regional and bilateral relations between countries, in an attempt to preserve the opportunity for their own, sovereign development. At the same time, today it is South-East Asia, more than any other region of the world, that is becoming a place where the interests of various powers and geopolitical alliances collide. the United States and China, which has reached its apogee in recent years and a decade. Since the end of World War II, the United States of America has had an exceptionally impressive political, military, and economic presence in Southeast Asia. And in the twenty-first century, using a wide variety of methods of influence (from diplomacy and economic preferences, to sanctions policy and direct military presence), they strive to remain the main power-in fact, the hegemon of the Pacific region. On the other hand, it is often pointed out that the economic growth of the People's Republic of China and its changing global aspirations undermine American efforts to preserve the regional status quo inherited in the era of the «unipolar world». Thus, the People's Liberation Army and the Navy of the People's Republic of China not only challenge the American military dominance in the South China Sea, but also are able to change the global parity in the defense and security system in the foreseeable future. And not to listen to a state with such power, even from the point of view of common sense, for the countries of Southeast Asia is becoming an increasingly risky policy. At the same time, no less, but rather more important, is the impact on the countries of Southeast Asia of the economic projects proposed to the states of the region, on behalf of the PRC and the United States, and the implementation of the intentions of these world leaders, with the help of diplomacy, and the so-called «soft power». However, too often, South-East Asia is considered in US-China relations only as a field for competition, and the countries of this community as objects of application of efforts. In this case, there is a risk of underestimating the importance of both individual countries and the integration structures of the region, which have their own specifics. Meanwhile, not only the governments and peoples of the states of Southeast Asia, but also regional structures, the central link of which is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), do not want to see themselves as «chess pieces» on the geopolitical board of the United States-China. The object of this work is the system of relations (in all their diversity) that has developed in Southeast Asia, with the participation of the ASEAN community itself, individual countries of this community, as well as the United States and China, at the current stage of development. The subject is their diverse competitive nature with the identification of the main directions, priorities and problematic aspects of such relations. It is for this reason that the consideration is not limited to analyzing only the political relations of the ASEAN countries, China and the United States, but also takes into account the economic, military, social and cultural nature of these relationships, both at the level of relations with individual countries and at the regional level, which allows us to show a comprehensive approach to the study of this issue.