U.S. lawmakers and analysts see China's efforts to control much of the South China Sea as a serious threat, endangering regional security, freedom of navigation, and the liberal world order. This paper finds that political leaders and experts exaggerate the dangers of China's South China Sea...

China has land borders with mainland Southeast Asia and strong strategic imperatives to develop land routes to the sea. It has both potential and motivation to pursue an infrastructural sphere of influence in the Mekong subregion through Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects joining southern...

Cooperation measures conducive to increased integration between developing countries are considered to be necessary from the point of view of development theory as well as beneficial. Such measures are also in general welcomed, and on occasion even supported, by the governments of the...

In the attempt to build a South East Asian Community, similar experiences will be made as in other cases of merging disparate organisations. There are common interests, but also antagonisms, and a complicated network of interdependence will create a completely novel organism whose character...