Author: Zenobia Chan

Published: 10 Jun 2026

The US appears to be losing to China in the race to understand Southeast Asia. The real test, however, centres on whether a country can sustain the institutions to study the region critically.

In the contest for influence in Southeast Asia, Washington and Beijing agree on one thing: the region is indispensable. Yet, beneath the flurry of high-level summits lies a quieter divergence in how both powers cultivate knowledge about the region. The US is hollowing out the university-based programmes that have long trained its students in Southeast Asian languages, history and politics. China, conversely, is elevating area studies to a top-tier, state-backed academic field. Beyond a shift in academic funding, this divergence exposes a fundamental difference in the kind of knowledge each system values, and how those choices may shape each power’s ability to understand Southeast Asia’s complexity.

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https://fulcrum.sg/china-and-the-us-who-will-better-understand-southeast-asia/

The article was published by ISEAS.

IRSEA and ISEAS have agreed to enter into a relationship of cooperation.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA