Our Place in the Asian Century: Southeast Asia as 'The Third way'

The rise of China, also of India—and most of all the US-China dynamic—has dominated recent Australian commentary. These are vital developments, but ones where Australia acting alone is unlikely to have much influence. And in thinking of the ‘Asian century’, Australian public discussion has been mesmerised by China—deliberating on how best to balance our economic dependence on China against our alliance with the United States. We have tended to overlook the complexity of Asia