In this hybrid seminar, Mr Jackie Wong, Visiting Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, delved into China’s high-level military diplomacy in Southeast Asia.
REGIONAL SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR
Thursday, 27 July 2023 – The seminar features Mr Jackie Wong’s research findings on China’s high-level military diplomacy with Southeast Asian states and its potential impact on regional military cooperation. Through the qualitative analysis of senior Chinese military visits to Southeast Asia spanning from 2000 to 2023, Mr Wong’s seminar observes the correlation between China’s senior military visits and increased military cooperation with ASEAN member states in the form of joint military exercises. He is joined by Dr William Choong, a Senior Fellow from ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, who served as moderator for the event. The seminar attracted 18 physical and 77 online attendees.
Mr Wong provided an overview of China’s military diplomacy in the region, emphasizing China’s increased bilateral senior military visits and joint military exercises with Southeast Asian countries. His research explored whether face-to-face diplomacy, crucial in conventional diplomacy, also applies to military diplomacy. Joint Military Exercises were identified as a crucial measure of success in China’s military diplomacy due to their costliness, potential for mutual learning, and trust-building capabilities.
Data from Chinese state media sources and GIS spatial visualization revealed a higher focus on ASEAN countries. However, the study found no significant correlation between face-to-face military interactions and military cooperation, especially in the area of Joint Military Exercises. China’s involvement in such exercises primarily focused on non-security activities, as compared to the high level of sophistication in the Joint Military Exercises held by the US, highlighting a difference in their messaging to Southeast Asian counterparts. The US stressed its commitment to preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific, asserting its position as a resident power, while China aimed to portray itself as a responsible international actor.
In conclusion, Mr Wong posited that China’s efforts in conducting senior military visits have had a limited impact on the number and substance of Joint Military Exercises held between China and ASEAN countries. He argued that Joint Military Exercises held between China and ASEAN countries were largely “symbolic”, hypothesising that they served as a means for ASEAN countries to signal intent to “not take sides”. Further research was proposed to understand the motivations behind ASEAN countries’ decision to engage in such symbolic exercises. Additionally, Mr Wong proposed a hypothesis that ASEAN countries with closer economic ties with China yet possess deep military cooperation with the US tended to participate in more symbolic Joint Military Exercises, which he identified as an avenue for further research. Such research would provide valuable insights into the complexities of China’s military diplomacy in Southeast Asia and its implications for regional security dynamics.
The Q&A session addressed various topics, including terminology, historical context, the significance of non-traditional, para-military exercises, the potential for a Quad-like collaboration with China, China’s engagement with specific ASEAN countries, and China’s naval presence in the Cambodian Ream naval base.
