China's growing use of "soft power" in Southeast Asia-non-military inducements including culture, diplomacy, foreign aid, trade, and investment-has presented new challenges to U.S. foreign policy. By downplaying many conflicting interests and working collaboratively with countries and regional organizations on such issues as territorial disputes and trade, Beijing has largely allayed Southeast Asian concerns that China poses a military or economic threat. China's diplomatic engagement, compared to the perceived waning or limited attention by the United States, has earned the country greater respect in the region. Its rise as a major foreign aid provider and market for Southeast Asian goods has also enhanced its relations with Southeast Asian states. Many analysts contend that China's growing influence may come at the expense of U.S. power and influence in the region. This report provides evidence and analysis of China's soft power in Southeast Asia. It does not discuss the considerable U.S. military presence in the region. The report describes China's evolving diplomacy and more active role in regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Although China's foreign aid to Southeast Asia, as in other regions, is difficult to quantify and includes a broader range of economic assistance than official development assistance (ODA) offered by major industrialized nations, it is believed to be relatively large. China is considered to be the "primary economic patron" of the small but strategically important nations of Burma, Cambodia, and Laos, and also provides considerable economic aid to Indonesia and the Philippines.

ISIS poses a real threat to security and stability of South-East Asia countries, inspiring local Islamic extremists to conduct jihad for the purpose of creating a pan-regional caliphate "Daulah Islamiyah Nusantara" comprising the territories of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Philippines and Thailand, where the Muslim population exceeds 250 millions. The author assumes that ISIS has potential for increasing its influence on these countries, taking into consideration 1) the presence of long-standing terrorist organizations, which have established contacts with international terrorists, such as Al Qaeda, and are now ready to swear their allegiance to ISIS; 2) the existence of social base – receptive to the ideology of international jihad – that can increase in number in case of engagement of former ISIS fighters from South-East Asia in the battle for the Islamic State creation in the region. This struggle will lead to terror and violence. And strengthening of the ISIS power in the Middle East gives the militants force and determination in achieving this goal. Now the number of the ISIS fighters from South-East Asia exceeds 800 people, but the flow of new supporters can increase, because there is a well-established basis for their recruiting through: preaching in mosques; indoctrination of students in madrasahs and religious boarding schools, funded by radical Islamic organizations; circulating of religious literature of jihad orientation; local radical groups; social networks. To counter the threat of the Islamic community radicalization, the governments rely on the leading Islam organizations and take actions in different directions. But their outcome will depend on whether the Muslim majority of population preserves the inherent religious tolerance.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the position of the countries of South-East Asia on the construction of security architecture in the region within the framework of the Indo-Pacific region project in the format promoted by the USA. The article examines in detail the factors that determine the attitude of Southeast Asian countries to the American doctrine of free and open Indo-Pacific, which they assess as strategically risky and leading to deformation of the existing security system in the region with the loss of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) its central role in ensuring its stability. The response of the Southeast Asian countries to external challenges was the formation of their own concept Aseans - "Outlook On The Indo-Pacific, which reflects their views on the nature of the relationship within the emerging community. The author analyzes in detail the content of the ASEAN doctrine, which emphasizes the promotion of economic cooperation between the countries of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in contrast to the geostrategic orientation of the American concept. Three main areas of cooperation are distinguished - maritime cooperation, the development of connectivity and interaction in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Offering such a format for engaging, ASAEN countries proceed from the need to strengthen trust between countries as the most important condition for maintaining peace and order in the region based on the traditional principles of ASEAN. These include: openness, transparency, inclusiveness, rules-based world order anchored on international law, respect for sovereignty, non-interference, equality, mutual trust and respect. ASEANs position remains unchanged in maintaining its central role in the evolution of the regional security architecture. Speaking from the position of multirealism, ASEAN sees a way to overcome the conflict of interests in the region in the context of escalating rivalry between the US and China, in creating a synergistic security system based on mechanisms associated with ASEAN. In the ASEAN concept, India-Pacific Region appears as a region of dialogue and cooperation, rather than competition, open to participation of China in the project. The author comes to the conclusion that such format is justified both from the point of view of strategic interests of the countries of Southeast Asia and the whole region, if the relations within it are based on the principles advocated by ASEAN. However, as the author emphasizes, the project proposed by the Southeast Asian countries raises many questions, the main of which is its feasibility in the context of the emerging split of the region along the axis of US-China rivalry for leadership in Asia. Nevertheless, as the author notes, the tendency to strengthen economic cooperation between the countries located in the basin of two oceans creates the basis for the growth of their interest in developing a stable security architecture.

The article analyzes the ASEAN policy to resolve the political crisis in Myanmar, the main means and directions of its implementation. The confrontation in society as a result of the military coup on February 1, 2021 is accompanied by violence and threatens to escalate into a civil war. The threat of losing its central role in the regional security system and the regionalization of the conflict prompts ASEAN to look for ways out of it in accordance with the adopted action plan. However, its implementation is difficult both due to the fact that ASEAN remains hostage to the fundamental principle of its activities, non-interference in the internal affairs of its members, and the unwillingness of all parties to the conflict in Myanmar to seek ways of reconciliation. ASEAN's interaction with the military leadership accused of mass repression is asymmetric, with the success or failure of the ASEAN peacekeeping mission almost entirely dependent on the political will of the military. Nevertheless, ASEAN remains today the only force capable of influencing the development of the political situation in Myanmar. The best option for the international community to participate in resolving the conflict in Myanmar is to assist ASEAN in the implementation of peacekeeping activities. The most realistic ASEAN initiative today is to provide humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, which is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Considering the negative trends in socio-economic development, Myanmar for many years to come will need humanitarian support, in the provision of which ASEAN has advantages over Western states and associations. Giving preference to the methods of soft diplomacy, dictated by the need to observe the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Myanmar, ASEAN as an institution demonstrates its functional weakness, which the military who seized power use to delay the implementation of the measures proposed by the bloc to resolve the conflict. ASEAN continues to act with great caution, and this may cause it losing the influence on the development of the situation when China, which is not interested in prolonging the conflict, seizes the initiative.

In the article the widespread opinion concerning the exclusively negative impact of globalization on environmental situation in developing countries is disputed. But analysis of environmental consequences of trade and investment liberalization in these states proves that the role of foreign investments in deteriorating of national environmental situation is too exaggerated. On the contrary, the "export of environmentalism" is associated with TNK activities. On the one hand, globalization originates new threats. On the other hand, the integration of developing countries into the world economy favors the solution of many environmental problems by attraction of foreign private investments in industrial development and costly infrastructure projects; transfer of clean technology; promotion of international environmental cooperation and increase of environmental responsibility of national business.