Last week, the Chinese foreign ministry launched "The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper", following from the Boao Forum for Asia in April 2022, when Chinese President Xi Jinping raised the concept of a Global Security Initiative, which includes respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abiding by the UN Charter, and taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously. What does all this mean for ASEAN?

Shutting out the din of international debates on US-China competition, Professor Zha Daojiong puts perspective on changing global dynamics, asserting that China is circumspect about its place in the world and the prospect of decoupling is further than people think. Besides, other players, albeit smaller ones, hold sway over the changing global order too. This is the first in a series of four articles contemplating a changing world order.

Post Covid-19, while it seems that a world economy with two centres of dynamism — one America, the other China — is setting in, and “decoupling” and “deglobalisation” are becoming catchwords of the new era, academic Zha Daojiong notes that there are a few bright spots amid the gloom. Moreover, the new normal in China-US relations may be more stable and less worrying for Southeast Asia than commonly thought.