Following the recently concluded meeting of ASEAN members in Los Angeles, Draitser provides an excellent decoded assessment of statements which reveal some of the details of the updated US policies and how this influences the policies of other countries in SE Asia. ASEAN is a US dominated organization of Asian states and used by the US to further Empire interests in this area. This discussion with interviewer Brian Becker is in the context of the ruling class's "pivot to China" strategy which Draitser reviews.
Draitser explains some of the ways in which ASEAN acts as a political arm of US power projection against China in Southeast Asia. He explains the connection between US policy and the South China Sea disputes among other issues. He also notes how independent countries in the region are forced into complex power relations with the US and China, and how Washington manipulates these to its advantage. These and other issues discussed in this conversation.