Article

Governing a Complex Partnership: ASEAN’s Mechanisms for Managing Relations with China under South China Sea Stress

By: Mengchu Zhang^*

School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.

^*Corresponding author

Received: 2026-05-02Accepted: 2026-08-12Published: 2026-10-10

J. Int. Eco. Glo. Gov. 2026, 3(3), 71-93; https://doi.org/10.58244/jiegg.263829

Abstract

The China-Philippines dispute in the South China Sea has increasingly become a stress test for the broader trajectory of China-ASEAN relations. While existing studies often focus on crisis escalation or institutional bargaining in isolation, less attention has been paid to how a relationship can be sustained when strategic friction becomes recurrent and politically salient. This article develops a relationship maintenance under strategic friction framework and argues that China-ASEAN relations are most likely to evolve toward a pattern of competitive normality combined with layered cooperation. Specifically, three mechanisms help prevent a single dispute from derailing the broader relationship through three mechanisms. (1) crisis-management practices that reduce misperceptions and contain incidents; (2) issue separation and selective issue-linkage that insulates economic and governance cooperation from high-sensitivity maritime disputes while allowing cooperation to serve as a buffer; and (3) institutional anchoring through ASEAN-centered platforms that preserves routine interaction and limits premature bloc formation. Using process-tracing logic, the study maps observable implications of these mechanisms in diplomatic signaling, institutional activation, and the continuity of cooperation agendas. The findings contribute to debates on regional governance by explaining why sustained tension does not necessarily imply relationship breakdown, and by identifying policy levers for China and ASEAN to manage disputes without sacrificing cooperative resilience.

Keywords: South China Sea dispute; China-ASEAN relations; Crisis management; Issue linkage; Regional governance

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Funding

None.

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