Observations Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak: The US-China Rivalry in Vietnam and the Philippines

Abstract

As the novel coronavirus pandemic had escalated the big-power rivalry and opened new avenues of competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, the paper seeks to determine the effects of the new developments on the hedging strategy of Vietnam and the Philippines. Through the comparative case study methodology, continuity and changes in Vietnam’s and Philippines’ positioning between the two powers are inferred with the presentations of the two Southeast Asian states’ maneuverings before and the states’ reactions after the virus outbreak. The information is compiled from official papers, governments’ statements, English-language newspapers as well as scholarly literatures. The preliminary observations in the study show that there is continuity in the states’ employment of hedging strategy, but the recent phase of the big-power contention has launched the two states to lean more to the United States. As smaller states in the region that is stuck between the two pulls of the rival powers and with the uncertain future posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, the hedging strategy allows for the needed flexibility to ensure the states’ survival and benefits. Also, under the condition of heightened security threat projected from China in the South China Sea that became more aggressive during the coronavirus outbreak and if the threat continues to prevail, the study suggests that the security ties between the two Southeast Asian states and the US are and will continue to be strengthened.