AUGUST 2024
U.S. and Chinese Soft
Power and Inuence in
Southeast Asia
By Andreyka Natalegawa and Gregory B. Poling
Introduction
Amid the lingering economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and an increasingly complex regional
and global security landscape, power dynamics in Southeast Asia remain uid. Under the Biden
administration, the United States has eagerly sought to bolster its partnerships and alliances in
Southeast Asia. Thus far, Washington’s eorts have been met positively, with opinion polling suggesting
that the United States retains more soft power and popularity than China across most of the region.
But that advantage may be shrinking. China remains a key partner for Southeast Asia and has sought
to supplement its growing economic and political clout with educational, professional, and cultural
exchanges, alongside other levers of soft power. Given these shifting trends, Washington and its allies
need a clear and nuanced understanding of how investments made by each great power in people-to-
people ties are reected in overall soft power and strategic alignment among publics and elites.
This analysis builds on a previous CSIS Southeast Asia Program white paper on U.S. and Chinese
inuence in Southeast Asia, which collated and weighted available country-level polling data
alongside economic indicators. This report updates those ndings and adds data on student mobility
and perceived soft power to provide a more rigorous assessment of elite and public opinion regarding
the United States and China. In the 2023 white paper, in order to nd comparable data across a range of
polls of public and elite opinion, the CSIS Southeast Asia Program limited its analysis to three questions:
1. Do the elites/public of Country X have warmer feelings toward the United States or China?
2. Which of the two countries do the elites/public of Country X consider the more important
strategic power in Southeast Asia?
