How does Southeast Asia actually see China?
The China-Southeast Asia relationship has grown denser and more complex in the last decade. China is now the leading trading partner of nearly every economy in the region, and its ties have deepened through trade, infrastructure financing, and investment, alongside a fresh wave of Chinese clean tech, EVs, and manufactured goods. With these deepening economic links, however, there also exist areas of friction and discomfort: unresolved maritime disputes, environmental and social externalities, and questions of sovereignty and control. The United States adds a further layer of complexity, as global trade pressure, great power competition, and questions of long-term U.S. commitment leave Southeast Asian governments navigating an increasingly difficult path between Washington and Beijing.
Built on the upcoming publication of CCA’s report, Global Public Opinion on China: Perspectives from China’s Swing States, CCA is convening a panel to take stock of how public opinion is shifting across ASEAN countries exposed to China’s rise. Drawing on over 2,500 survey results from 160 countries as featured on CCA’s Global Public Opinion on China platform, the discussion will explore how China’s neighbors are reassessing the relationships with Beijing.
The Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis (CCA) hosts a webinar bringing together Kevin Zongzhe Li, Fellow at CCA and author of the report, Sharon Seah, Principal Fellow and Coordinator of the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, and Andreyka Natalegawa, an associate fellow for the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. The session will be moderated by Andrew Chubb (moderator), Fellow on Foreign Policy and National Security at CCA, who initiated the GPOC project.
Speakers
Kevin Zongzhe Li is a Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, where he leads the Center’s work on China–Southeast Asia relations. His research also examines the geopolitics of the energy transition, the role of middle powers amid great-power competition, and clean energy, critical mineral supply chains, and industrial policy. He holds a BS in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences from Cornell University and a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Kevin contributes regularly to outlets including The Diplomat, Fulcrum, The Jakarta Post, East Asia Forum, China-U.S. Focus, the South China Morning Post, and the Asian Peace Programme. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English and conversant in Bahasa Indonesia.
Sharon Seah is Principal Fellow and Coordinator of the Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. Prior to academia, Ms Seah spent fifteen years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including as a diplomat in the Singapore Embassy in Thailand (2003 – 2006) and in the National Environment Agency of Singapore. She was Associate Director at the Centre for International Law of the National University of Singapore prior to joining ISEAS. Ms Seah graduated with a Master in Public and International Law from the University of Melbourne in 2018. Her research interests are in ASEAN, multilateralism, and climate change. She is co-editor of Energy and Decarbonization in Southeast Asia (ISEAS Publishing: 2025), Cities and the Climate Challenges in Southeast Asia (ISEAS Publishing: 2023), 50 Years of ASEAN and Singapore (World Scientific: 2017), and editor of Building a New Legal Order for the Oceans (NUS Press: 2019). She is the lead author of The State of Southeast Asia Survey (2021 – 2025) and the Southeast Asia Climate Outlook Survey (2020-2024).
Andreyka Natalegawa is an associate fellow for the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. He holds an MA in Asian studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Prior to joining CSIS in 2017, he received a bachelor’s degree in politics from New York University, with minors in Chinese and social and public policy. He is a member of the Pacific Forum Young Leaders Program and previously served as a Bunker fellow for 2021–2022 at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. Mr. Natalegawa helps run the DC Asia Policy Network, a community of over 2,000 young professionals working on Asia policy issues in Washington.
Andrew Chubb (moderator) is Foreign Policy and National Security Fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis where he analyzes global views of China among citizens and foreign policy elites, along with China’s maritime and territorial disputes. Andrew is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. A graduate of the University of Western Australia, his work examines the linkages between Chinese domestic politics and international relations. More broadly, Andrew’s interests include maritime and territorial disputes, strategic communication, political propaganda, and Chinese Communist Party history. Recent publications include Chinese Nationalism and the Gray Zone: Case Analyses of Public Opinion and PRC Maritime Policy (Naval War College Press, 2021), PRC Overseas Political Activities: Risk, Reaction and the Case of Australia (Routledge and Royal United Services Institute, 2021), Rights Protection: How the UK Should Respond to the PRC’s Overseas Influence (Lau China Institute, 2022) and Dynamics of Assertiveness in the South China Sea: China, the Philippines and Vietnam, 1970-2015 (National Bureau of Asian Research, 2022).