Abstract
Southeast Asia stems its geopolitical significance predominantly from its position at the intersection between the accumulation of military power, technological and industrial advanced states in Northeast Asia to the north, the oil rich Middle East and Indian subcontinent to the east and Australia lies towards the south. It is also a region of massive unexploited natural resources and junction of the world’s supreme sea trade routes. Since the end of Second World War, the USA has maintained substantial presence in Southeast Asia which has provided stability to a large extent. The massive investment and development of infrastructure resulted in rapid post war recovery of devastated region, which also helped China (Now World’s Economic Giant) towards rapid pace of economic development. Southeast Asia reverberated even during Cold War times and in the Vietnam War. After the end of Cold War, the U.S A shifted its focus from security to economic issues in Southeast Asia. "Market access'' and "market-opening" became the prominent slogans of U. S. policy for this region, which focused on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC). President Trump after taking over office renewed his commitments and policy preferences for greater focus and engagement in Asia-Pacific region by rephrasing it as Indo-Pacific region for dealing with the existential threat of North Korea and assuring allies of unstinted US support for continued engagement in the region. This is an academic discourse; therefore, views expressed in this research are author’s own views.