【Abstract】

On November 22, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping officially announced the establishment of the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, indicating that the bilateral relationship has entered a new phase. Southeast Asian countries are important neighbors of China, adjacent to China's land gateway in the southwest and sea gateway in the southeast. With varying levels of development and complex situations, Southeast Asia has always been the focus and difficulty of China's neighboring diplomacy. ASEAN is not only a key region in the BRI strategic layout, but also the core region of the US "Indo-Pacific Strategy". The establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN is a necessity for the all-round cooperation and development of both sides, as well as a reaction to the escalation of the strategic competition between China and the United States in the new situation. Since Biden became the president, the American strategy for ASEAN has shifted from a defensive one under Trump to an offensive one, specifically targeting China's ASEAN policy and offering its own alternatives on all fronts. To a large extent, the US has made a strong effort to force ASEAN countries to make a choice between China and the US. How to handle the relationship with ASEAN countries is the key for China to break the US strategic siege. In the context of the growing strategic competition between China and the US, the strategic choices of many countries in the region are also inevitably influenced by the policies of the US. The US offensive and the strategic layout of its allies in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region are serious challenges to the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN.