Book Discussion on Under Beijing’s Shadow: Southeast Asia’s China Challenge

China's rise and stepped-up involvement in Southeast Asia have prompted a blend of anticipation and unease among its smaller neighbours. The stunning growth of China has pullled up the region's economies, but its militarization of the South China Sea and dam building on the Mekong River has nations wary about Beijing's outsized ambitions. 

Southeast Asians long felt relatively secure, relying on the United States as a security hedge, but that confidence began to slip after the Trump administration launched a trade war with China and questioned the usefulness of traditional alliances.

This compelling book provides a snapshot of ten countries in Southeast Asia by exploring their diverse experiences with China and how this impacts their perceptions of Beijing's actions and its long-term political, economic, military, and "soft power" goals in the region.

"Six hundred million people, three trillion dollar economy and strategic location--all reasons to pay close attention to Southeast Asia. This has been accomplished in fine fashion by Murray Hiebert. What sets him apart is he observes as a journalist, elicits facts, and reports them. You feel the growing influence of China on all aspects of Southeast Asia life . . . security, infrastructure, finance. Murray outlines the difficult choices each of the ten nations has as they wrestle with the promise and challenge of the bulk of China. Who better to do this than someone with 45 years of experience in the region? This book matters."

        — Richard Armitage, former US Deputy Secretary of State 

"Hiebert performs the extraordinary service of uncovering, in precise and meticulous detail, what these countries are up against—and China's strategy to pull each of them ever more tightly into its orbit." 

           – Elizabeth Becker, Foreign Policy

"..stands out for the thoroughness of its reporting of recent issues in China's struggle for the hearts and minds of its southeastern neighbors whether by use of the soft power of friendly persuasion, harder power in the form of hard cash, and the seriously hard power of an ever-growing military presence in the region." 

          –Philip Bowring, The Asia Sentinel

"Hiebert turns to the question of what all this regional complexity means for Washington, which has displayed a mixture of heavy-handed demands for regional fealty and ambivalence toward Southeast Asia." 

  –Hunter Marston, Council on Foreign Relations