ABSTRACT
Michael Leifer observed in 1996 that ASEAN would be preoccupied in future years by external security threats as it faces the ‘disturbing geopolitical fusion’ of the extension of its would-be security community from its Southeast Asian origins to Northeast Asia. Highest among Leifer's concerns in this respect was the impact of Chinese nationalism on Beijing's regional policy. For the sake of analytical clarity, this chapter will treat nationalism as an ideology of mass mobilization that is distinct from the much broader policy-related activities of nation building or state building. The vital clue to the relationship of multilateralism with nationalism lies in the way that the traditional form of power balancing though alliances is entirely absent from Chinese discussions of multipolarity.
