Southeast Asian countries seek to maintain ties with China while safeguarding maritime sovereignty.

Tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have been making more headlines in 2025 after escalating alarmingly last year.

Some other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, meanwhile, are trying to maintain good relations with their big neighbor to the north, whose economic and political influence is only growing in importance, while protecting their interests in the disputed waterway.

Reporters from RFA and BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news organization, look at how three countries on the South China Sea are approaching relations with China.

INDONESIA: Growing openness toward China

In November 2024, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, stunned South China Sea watchers with a sentence in a joint statement issued in China on his first overseas trip since becoming president.