BLUF
Southeast Asia is diversifying defence partnerships amid US-China rivalry, engaging middle powers like Australia, Japan, India, and South Korea. These broader ties strengthen autonomy, resilience, and military capacity; shaping regional security balances and interoperability.Learning Outcomes:
- Analyse drivers of Southeast Asian defence diversification beyond the US–China binary.
- Assess the strategic roles of middle powers in regional defence cooperation.
- Evaluate the risks of uneven engagement across maritime versus mainland Southeast Asia.
