Hunter Marston is a nonresident adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a Southeast Asia associate with 9DashLine. He holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Australian National University.
Heads of state listen to U.S. President Donald Trump's opening remarks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Oct. 26.
U.S. and Chinese officials attend a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Jakarta.
China's President Xi Jinping (L) and US President Donald Trump attend a working session on the first day of the G20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, on July 7, 2017.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 23: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump shows the Executive Order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, January 23, 2017. The other two Executive Orders concerned a US Government hiring freeze for all departments but the military, and "Mexico City" which bans federal funding of abortions overseas. Standing behind the President, from left to right: US Vice President Mike Pence; White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus; Peter Navarro, Director of the National Trade Council; and Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President. (Photo by Ron Sachs - Pool/Getty Images)
