UK–ASEAN Relations and the Balance of Power in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The UK has adopted a ‘Global Britain’ foreign policy strategy since the 2016 Brexit referendum. This policy seeks to maintain the UK’s standing internationally while strengthening existing global relations. UK relations with Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) form an important component of this new policy. Laura Southgate examines this new impetus to strengthen UK–ASEAN relations following a period of benign neglect towards the region in the immediate post-Cold War period. In particular, she focuses on the potential success of UK strategy as regards to ASEAN, in light of its extended absence from the region and ASEAN’s growing status as a regional and international power.