Shifting Dynamics in Southeast Asia Security

Southeast Asian states maintain strategic autonomy in the face of US-China competition not through military power but through institutional adaptation, including ASEAN-led forums (ARF, EAS, ADMM+), the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and multilateral diplomacy, which transforms structural vulnerability into diplomatic influence and enables regional actors to shape the emerging Indo-Pacific order rather than merely reacting to great power rivalry.