Interactive Defence

Southeast Asia Wanted Partner, Washington Send Tariffs and Wars

For the first time in the annual ISEAS–Yusof Ishak survey; the most closely watched gauge of elite opinion across the region, U.S. global leadership has displ

Akhyari Hananto

April 20, 2026 12:51 PM GMT+7

Loading visualization...

Data Sources

Council on Foreign Relations

For the first time in the annual ISEAS–Yusof Ishak survey; the most closely watched gauge of elite opinion across the region, U.S. global leadership has displaced China's South China Sea aggression as Southeast Asia's foremost geopolitical anxiety. More than half of respondents now say Washington's unpredictability under President Trump is their biggest concern. That is not a marginal shift. It is a structural one.

The survey was conducted before the U.S. strikes on Iran, meaning the data already does not capture the full weight of the region's current anger. As the world's most LNG-dependent geography, Southeast Asia is bearing the brunt of an energy crisis it had no hand in creating. China, meanwhile, leads on perceived economic influence and, for the second consecutive year, is the region's preferred strategic partner over the United States, even as Beijing quietly withholds its own reserves from neighbors in need.

Thank you for reading until here