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In recent years, the United States has struggled to maintain its influence in Southeast Asia while China's presence continues to expand. President Biden's absence from the 2023 ASEAN Annual Summit affected US prestige in the region. To counter China's influence and maintain favourable relationships with ASEAN nations, the United States must enhance its public diplomacy efforts. This could be through increasing the number of diplomats in the region, promoting existing military, economic and educational programs, and establishing comprehensive security partnerships with key countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore — all while respecting ASEAN's centrality in the face of US-China competition.
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Based out of the Crawford School of Public Policy within the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University, the Forum is a joint initiative of two academic research networks: the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research (EABER) and the South Asian Bureau of Economic Research (SABER). East Asia Forum is edited by Shiro Armstrong and Peter Drysdale.
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