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Although ASEAN has been established, it is by no means a solid piece of paper. The internal contradictions in ASEAN are not just the "fight of freshwater" between Singapore and Malaysia. However, there are irreconcilable contradictions between almost all adjacent ASEAN countries, and many are very sharp.

Take Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos as an example. After the Vietnam War, Vietnam first invaded Laos and sent troops to Cambodia, creating many historical problems, including causing decades of war in Cambodia. Therefore, Laos and Cambodia are more inclined to China and hope to use China's help to fight Vietnam. There are also territorial disputes between Cambodia and Vietnam, that is, the ownership of Phu Quoc Island.

Historically, Phu Quoc Island has always been the territory of Cambodia. It was not until modern times that France invaded Vietnam that it was occupied by France. After Vietnam achieved unification, it claimed that Phu Quoc Island was its territory and sent troops to occupy it. Cambodia has never accepted the fait accompli.

Because of its weak national strength, Cambodia simply claimed that Phu Quoc Island was its inherent territory without taking substantial action.

It can be said that among ASEAN countries, territorial and territorial waters disputes are the most prominent.

There has been a dispute over the ownership of the Paveysha Temple area between Cambodia and Thailand. Although the United Nations has long ruled that the region belongs to Cambodia, Thailand has never accepted the ruling. In 2010 and 2011, Cambodia and Thailand also had several border conflicts.

The border dispute between Thailand and Myanmar and Laos is more complex, mainly concentrated in the Golden Triangle region bordering the three countries.

To the south, Thailand and Malaysia are not friendly and friendly neighbors. The two sides have been constantly having disputes over the division of several islands on the west side of the Malay Peninsula and the exclusive economic zone of the Gulf of Thailand.

In addition, there are territorial and territorial waters disputes with Indonesia and Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

These internal contradictions have led to ASEAN being one of the major regional organizations, second only to the African Union, and its integration level is far from the level of the EU and North American Free Trade Areas, and it is not even comparable to the CIS. Every member state has ideas, so it is naturally difficult to adjust.

There is nothing strange about this.

Historically, there are still constant disputes in the EU region, and both world wars have been triggered here. Without deeper contact and understanding and broader cooperation, it is impossible to form a consortium for many countries, and it is even more impossible to speak in the same voice.

It can be said that for a long time to come, the internal contradictions in ASEAN will not be resolved.

Due to practical needs, the internal arms race in ASEAN is becoming increasingly fierce.

In this large-scale arms race, Singapore, which has the largest land area, the most developed economy and the most powerful military strength.

From the perspective of the combat effectiveness, equipment quality, military quality, etc., Singapore is undoubtedly a major military power in ASEAN.

Singapore can use a land of 600 square kilometers and a population of less than 10 million to build the most powerful military force in Southeast Asia, mainly due to its unique geographical location and the strategic benefits obtained from it. You should know that although Singapore is not an ally of the United States, its relationship with the United States exceeds that of many allies, and its importance in the US global strategy is no less than that of Israel. In fact, Israel has not signed an alliance treaty with the United States. Strictly speaking, like Singapore, it is not an ally of the United States.

It is precisely because of the support provided by the United States that Singapore has always maintained its military strength stronger than neighboring countries.

Not to mention, Singapore is a participant in the F-35 project, and it is the second country in Asia to obtain the F-35 fighter jet. After the United States lifted the ban on F-22a, Singapore was the second country in Asia to obtain such fighter jets. As early as 2021, Singapore purchased twelve F-22s from the United States, and it was the fourth batch, which was much more advanced than the F-22i obtained by India.

Relatively speaking, other ASEAN countries are not so lucky.

Although the Philippines is an ally of the United States, it is too weak and does not have enough capital to purchase advanced weapons and equipment, so it can only obtain eliminated weapons and equipment from the United States. For example, treating the large patrol ship retired by the US Coast Guard as a destroyer, a 2,000-ton frigate can last for half a century.

Even if other ASEAN countries have enough funds, they may not be able to buy American weapons and equipment.

Take Indonesia as an example. Because it did not conduct the general election according to the requirements of the United States, it has been embargoed by the United States and is unable to purchase weapons and equipment from the United States at all. It can only purchase Russian-made equipment, and even has to spend a high price to purchase even more unreliable arms from India.

The situation in Malaysia is slightly better, but it only pursues a relatively standard foreign policy and does not match the United States very well.

Relatively speaking, Thailand is the Southeast Asian region. Apart from Singapore, the country with the closest relationship with the United States, and can always buy advanced equipment from the United States in time. For example, at the end of the last century, Thailand purchased a type of aircraft carrier from Spain through the United States, becoming a naval power in the region.

Of course, China is indispensable in the arms race in Southeast Asia.

As early as the beginning of this century, Singapore decided to purchase the "Leopard 2" main battle tank from Germany and improved according to the "Leopard 2a6" standards, Malaysia obtained a batch of Chinese main battle tanks through Pakistan to enhance its military strength in the Johor region.

In Thailand, China is also a major arms provider.

As for Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, frequent visitors to fire enterprises, not to mention anything else, all the guns of the Cambodian Army come from China.

In Southeast Asia, arms trade is a direct reflection of the game between great powers and a direct reflection of the country's basic policies.

In a sense, which country's weapon to buy is not determined by the price of the weapon, but by political inclination, or by national security strategies.

For example, Singapore has never purchased Chinese arms.

Although the image of "Made in China" has changed after the Second Korean War, AIP-powered submarines, main battle tanks, long-range artillery, advanced fighter jets, air defense systems, electronic warfare aircraft, early warning aircraft and other main combat equipment have been recognized and sold very well in the international market. Even some countries that have always purchased US-made equipment, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have become customers of fire merchants. Saudi Arabia has purchased eight z03s type early warning aircraft, and UAE has purchased eight z03s type early warning aircraft.

The Chiefs purchased two AIP submarines, but the fire merchants lost to Maicheng in Singapore, and successively lost to European and American manufacturers in projects such as "multi-purpose advanced fighter jets", "advanced conventional submarines", and "long-range artillery". The most representative thing is that in 2020, the Singapore authorities abandoned the more advanced performance, cheaper prices, and more timely supply of Chinese artillery, and instead introduced a batch of quite expensive artillery from France.

This choice is enough to illustrate Singapore's political stance.

It can be said that in the eyes of the Singapore authorities, national interests exceed national interests, even if more than 80% of Singaporeans are Chinese, and Chinese is the official language.

Compared with Singapore, Vietnam's defense policy is more extreme.

Before the Second Korean War, Vietnam mainly relied on arms from Russia. After that, as the United States increased its investment in Southeast Asia and began to seek more reliable partners, Vietnam became the guest of US fire merchants and also became the largest arms trading country in the United States in Southeast Asia.

By the end of 2026, Vietnam had imported a total of US$48.7 billion of munitions, of which 42.3 billion came from the United States.

Ironically, in this $42.3 billion arms contract, almost $37 billion was conducted in barter, and Vietnam used the materials for arms exchange mainly oil exploited in disputed waters in the South China Sea and the oil field mining rights.

It can be said that what Vietnam did almost triggered wars several times.

For example, in 2026, Vietnam announced that it would transfer the mining rights of offshore oil and gas fields near Nanwei Island to American companies. China immediately issued diplomatic protests and sent a fleet into the oil field mining area. Vietnam also took tit-for-tat measures. If the Vietnamese authorities had not announced that in the bidding for the project, American companies were suspected of bribery, violated the bidding rules, and cancelled the previous decisions, otherwise the war would have been inevitable.

Since there are countries that regard China as an enemy, there are countries that regard China as a friend.

The most prominent ones are Laos and Cambodia.

In addition, Myanmar is also highly dependent on China's support. Without China's support, Myanmar would have collapsed under the full blockade of Western countries.

Of course, there are also relatively neutral countries, such as Malaysia and Thailand.

It can be said that after decades of development, the pattern of the ASEAN region has become very obvious, and each member state has selected a team according to its different interests and needs.

Teng Yaohui mentioned the Isthmus of Kra, which was to make Mu Haoyang pay attention to these issues.

Fundamentally speaking, digging canals in the Isthmus of Kra is only a political means, or it is to take this opportunity to intensify internal conflicts in ASEAN.

As long as ASEAN is divided, the era when the United States dominated the situation in Southeast Asia will be gone forever.

As an emerging power, all China needs is an opportunity.

Mu Haoyang was very touched when he left Qingdao.

As the commander, he lacks experience, and has a long-term strategic vision and the ability to consider problems as a whole.

What made him even more touched was that contradictions always come from within.

There are internal conflicts in ASEAN, and there are internal conflicts in China.

Fortunately, Teng Yaohui's attitude was very clear. Even if he was appointed by Yi Yuanchao, he would not agree with Yi Yuanchao's external propositions.

This was expected by Mu Haoyang, because Teng Yaohui was a more proactive general than Huang Zhibo.

In fact, this is exactly the characteristic of the navy general.

It can be imagined that even if Teng Yaohui becomes the Chief of Staff in five years, Huang Zhibo's insistence on the military-building policy would not change much. Perhaps Teng Yaohui will focus on it and raise the navy to a higher position, but he will never change his proactive approach.

Perhaps, Teng Yaohui can take the team to a new height...

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Chapter completed!