Southeast Asia can be part of a new international order if China plays its cards right amid a “free fall in geopolitics” sparked by mounting uncertainty over the United States’ regional role.

Panel speakers at the “China Conference: Southeast Asia” in Kuala Lumpur on Monday gave an overview of changing power dynamics and how this would affect the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The experts noted how Asean members had been in limbo in recent weeks as they waited to see how far US President Donald Trump would go with his promise to widen tariffs, which he said would not only affect China but also other nations – especially those with large trade surpluses with America.

But the tides appear to be shifting in Trump’s second act in the White House.

Asean has until recently had clear lines of engagement with China as the bloc’s largest trading partner and with the US as a security bulwark for the region, according to Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of international relations and senior fellow with the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.

Trump’s focus on tariffs and US economic nationalism, however, raised concerns that the world’s largest economy might no longer be interested in maintaining its presence in Southeast Asia, he warned.