A Concert of Powers and Hybrid Regionalism in Asia

Abstract

With the rise of China the strategic competition between the US and China has gained momentum over the last 10 years and is likely to continue in the near future. To deal with this challenge, Hugh White has proposed a concert of powers in Asia. White's proposal, however, has not received sufficient attention in Asia and is likely to be a failure if Asia does not take it seriously. This article examines the problematic assumptions of White's proposal and argues that his proposal needs to incorporate the important role of ASEAN, an existing de facto Asian concert of powers. It shifts the idea of a concert of powers towards a new hybrid regionalism, identifies its key components and discusses how this hybrid regionalism can dilute the strategic conflict between China and the US.

Keywords:

• ASEAN
• concert of powers
• hybrid regionalism
• rise of China
• US primacy

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Baogang He

Baogang He is Professor of International Studies at Deakin University. He would like to express sincere thanks for the comments and assistance from Amitav Acharya, Kingsley Edney, David Hundt, Sally Percival Wood, Grace Goh, and two anonymous reports from the Australian Journal of Political Science.