Making Friends and Influencing in Southeast Asia

A 2024 survey of experts across Southeast Asia found that for the first time, more would see themselves aligned with China than the US in a hypothetical confrontation between the two superpowers.

What are the implications of that shift, and more broadly is soft power and public perception abroad a significant factor in foreign policy?

A version of this podcast was initially uploaded without any actual audio. We sincerely apologize for the confusion, and accept with grace the roughly fifty messages we got telling us how much of an improvement an hour of silence was.

About the show:

Intrigue Explained is a show where three former diplomats (John Fowler, Dmitry Grozoubinski and Helen Zhang*) break down the big stories in international news.

The show is based on reporting from International Intrigue's free daily newsletter. Sign up to receive the world's news in a format you'll love and at a length you can digest over coffee.

Dmitry's book "Why Politicians Lie about Trade... and what you need to know about it" is now available for pre-order in both Kindle and hardcopy format: https://x.com/DmitryOpines/status/1771177620643664128?s=20