The Soft Balancing And ASEAN's Strategic Choice To Great Powers After The Cold War

Traditionally, According to the realistic Balance of Power in the International Relations, the Balance of Power comes into being when actual or potential threat rises. After the Cold War, America is in the green tree in politics, economy and military, especially the administration of George W ? Bush executed unilateral foreign policy. But the Balance of Power against the United States in the international society doesn't rise. The traditional Balance of Power can't account for this phenomenon, so academic experts enlarge the core definition of the Balance of Power. They put it into two parts: the Hard Balancing and the Soft Balancing. In the way of Hard Balancing, the means to restrict antagonists is military, including inner military-strengthening, which is also called the inner Balance of Power; and the exterior alliance, which is called the outer Balance of Power. The way of the Soft Balancing restricts its antagonists in ways of non-military and non-alliance.In the Southeast region, contradictions between states are complicated, which are territorial or marginal sea conflicts, severe terrorism and so on. After the Cold War, anti-disarmament rose in the Southeast region, and military expenditure has increased markedly. But the Southeast region has experienced long-peace and stabilization. Many scholars have brought forward several kinds of academic explanations in an attempt to explain that phenomenon. Yet the current researches have highlighted the influence of the great powers on the Southeast Region Security, emphasized particularly on the great powers functions and impact, characterized with realistic trait obviously. Actually, the Southeast Region Security is not the reason of Pox-Great-Powers, nor the consequence of the Balance of Power, but the peaceful progress dominated by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is very important to argue which kind of means ASEAN using to carry out the security aim in the Southeast region with several great powers surrounding it. With the further probe, the key point lies in the correct strategy ASEAN implementing on the surrounding great powers.This article adopts the concept of the Soft Balancing, considering the Soft Balancing theory as the key concept to explain ASEAN foreign strategy after the Cold War. With the means of the Soft Balancing, in virtue of the political influence of China, the economic strength of Japan and the martial strength of the United States, ASEAN have achieved the strategic aim successfully. The results of the Soft Balancing are as follows: interiorly, ASEAN makes the great powers such as China, the United States and Japan compete mutually in the Southeast, and their influences are restricted, ASEAN wanders among the great powers, maintaining the peace and stabilization in Asian and Pacific Region. Exteriorly, ASEAN has dominated the construction of regional security, heightened its international status. Yet, the Soft Balancing gone on the premise that the current great powers distribution in Southeast keeps invariable, due to the uncertainty of international relations in Southeast and ASEAN internal disadvantage, besides the Soft Balancing strategy, ASEAN should reinforce the cooperation with the great powers in Southeast.