Strategic Alignment in Southeast Asia under U.S.–China New Cold War Dynamics: U.S. Alliance-Based Security Engagement, China’s Economic Expansion, and Regional Polarization

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

China’s pursuit of regional hegemony has led to an expansion of its influence beyond Northeast Asia to East Asia as a whole. In response, the United States has sought to contain China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia through its Indo-Pacific Strategy, and the interaction between expansion and containment by the two powers has increasingly taken on the characteristics of “New Cold War.” In Northeast Asia, the U.S.–China competition over influence expansion and containment has continuously exerted pressure on South Korea to move beyond its traditional strategy of “security with the U.S. and economic engagement with China” and to align with either the U.S. or China. This pressure to choose has also extended to Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian countries, which have sought to maintain their autonomy based on ASEAN centrality, are increasingly facing pressures to make strategic choices amid the intensifying competition and influence expansion of the U.S. and China. These developments indicate the expansion of bloc formation in Southeast Asia under a New Cold War–like structure.