ABSTRACT
Confidence was the hallmark of the foreign policies of the states of Southeast Asia as they entered the era of international relations without the overarching presence of superpower control and manipulation of the global system. That confidence had grown through the years of experience implementing foreign policy in the generally hostile environment of the bipolar world. In the increasingly pragmatic Southeast Asian environment, such economic and social paralysis has left the Philippines in a marginal competitive position. Malaysia's foreign policy was jolted into recognizing the new regional reality when Vietnam invaded Cambodia. Singapore maintains dual strategies—regional and global—in its foreign policy. In the global perspective, trade and investment are the key issues, and Japan, Europe, and the United States are the primary targets. Thailand's increasing economic strength has required that it develop foreign economic policy in a global rather than national or even regional contexts.
