Foreign policy expert notes senior diplomat warned "if the United States is not careful, it will lose Southeast Asia" at congressional briefing

Brookings Institution Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asia Studies Lynn Kuok discusses America losing Southeast Asia, with a senior Regional Diplomat warning that if the United States was not careful, it would lose the region, though this position was not irreversible since through decades of providing a security counterweight the US contributed to the region's peace and prosperity, but without strong US engagement regional strategic options would shrink and China's influence would grow even though Southeast Asia did not want to choose between the United States and China at a US-China Economic and Security Review Commission briefing on United States and Chinese relations with Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.