Publication

This brief discusses how China's territorial claims in the China Seas and its setting up of international financial institutions, are affecting perceptions of US power in the Asia-Pacific region. More specifically, the author examines 1) how China's increasingly assertive territorial encroachment, coupled with a lack of a robust US response, has led ASEAN countries to seek protection by strengthening ties with one another; 2) how China has attempted to counterbalance its territorial claims through measures designed to provide ASEAN countries with increased financial funding, through such institutions as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); and 3) how the US can respond to China's attempts to increase its strategic and economic influence in the Asia-Pacific.