Southeast Asia must factor Big Tech firms into its US-China calculus

In courting Southeast Asian states at these regional meetings, larger powers have also become better at refining their message. They now take care to centre Asean in speech while advancing their own objectives in substance.

To be sure, the battle for tech support in the upcoming US presidential election will largely be carried out through domestic issues or political ideology rather than grander strategic machinations. But as with political campaigns in any other country, big money has a tendency to move big policy.

These days, it is not only states but also large corporations – particularly in the tech industry – which shift the power calculus on the international stage. For Southeast Asia and Asean, recognising this fact should provide grounds to take a more comprehensive, cross-sectoral and long-term approach to engaging with their external partners. Otherwise, the region will be viewing the world as it wants to, not as it really is.

Elina Noor is a senior fellow in the Asia Programme at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace