In recent years, China has overtaken the United States as the largest trading partner of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Not only has Beijing played a bigger role in region’s economic order, it is also taking the lead in creating new institutions in Asia. China is known for BRICS or its eponymous Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. But more recently, free trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement are bolstering China’s challenge to existing institutional order. 

In this episode of the Re:Order summer series, Mark Leonard welcomes bestselling author and S.T. Lee chair in US-Asia relations at the Harvard Kennedy School Rana Mitter to discuss China’s positioning vis-à-vis the West. How does China engage with ASEAN? How are economic flows and institutions shaping the fast-changing region? Are their institutions shadow organisations of the West or trying to challenge the West?  

This episode was recorded on 26 June 2024. 

This podcast is part of Re:Order and was produced with support from Stiftung Mercator. 

Bookshelf 

China steps out: Beijing’s Major Power Engagement with the Developing World, by Johsua Eisemann 

Source