ASEAN-CHINA COOPERATION: THE KEY TO PEACE IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA

The article analyzes the dynamics of relations between the Association of 10 South-East Asian States (ASEAN) and China in recent years. The author polemizes with the opinion of a number of researchers that, given the growing confrontation between the United States and the PRC, the ASEAN could not but choose one side or the other It is shown that under the current difficult conditions, they carry out a time-tested policy of hedging risks, avoiding joining one or another superpower. The article demonstrates that in recent years, China as the main economic partner of the ASEAN has significantly strengthened its comprehensive cooperation with the Association countries. The U.S. policy during the first term of the Trump administration also contributed a lot to this. The ASEAN and the PRC give their relationship the status of a strategic partnership. But they still have a long way to go and will need considerable effort to build the necessary strategic trust. The dangerously smoldering controversy around the sovereignty over the Islands and the waters surrounding them in the South China Sea continues. Equal and mutually beneficial cooperation, the article argues, has no reasonable alternative. Only it opens the way to peace and prosperity for all states in the region. This became even more necessary during the onset of the pandemic. The famous "ASEAN Way" (the way of a passionate search for agreement) supported by the postulate of equal and indivisible security, promoted by Russia in the region, can pave the way to solution of the problem, but not very soon.