Abstract
Relations between China and ASEAN have become critical as the ten Southeast Asian nations face the challenge of proximity to an emerging superpower. In the modern context, China is often viewed as a threat to Southeast Asia on account of its growing economic pre-eminence and presumed expansionist aspirations. However, many countries in the region view relations through a more benign historical prism, one that reflects on China as an arrogant but benign partner, from which the commercial advantage was mostly in favour of the Southeast Asian states. The case of Thailand is instructive because of the much longer history of close ties, both in the historical and modern period. Thailand is moving ever closer to China under the present government, and this is having a distinct impact on Thai culture and policy. And while China does appear to be trying to expand its influence on mainland Southeast Asia, seeing Thailand as a key ally, there is an instinctive reflex on the part of the Southeast Asian states to seek a strategic balance in their economic and political ties.
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