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Relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its member states have undergone significant changes over the past 15 years. When Beijing first established official contacts with the original ASEAN-6 in 1991, it barely had restored diplomatic relations with Indonesia, had begun to normalize relations with Vietnam, and just had established diplomatic ties with Singapore. There were strong suspicions, as well as concerns, among ASEAN member states over China’s growing power and intentions toward Southeast Asia. History aside, Beijing’s assertiveness in its claims to sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, its ongoing military buildup, and the occasional uses of force in asserting its territorial claims (with South Vietnam in 1974, and with Vietnam in 1988), cast a shadow over the Southeast Asian states at a time of uncertain U.S. commitment and military drawdown in the region (e.g., the closing of the Subic and Clark military bases in the Philippines in 1991). It was no accident that the “China threat” thesis found a receptive audience in the region’s capitals. Indeed, ASEAN’s internal and external balancing strategy in the early 1990s was very much driven by such grim assessments. What differences a decade and half have made. Today, China and ASEAN have formed a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity, signed a framework agreement on a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), and are cooperating on a range of issues of mutual interest from maritime security to nontraditional security challenges. Washington should welcome a stable relationship between China and Southeast Asia that in general contributes to regional peace, stability, and prosperity, and minimizes the potential for conflicts over disputed territories that could endanger key sea lines of communication (SLOCs). At the same time, it also is important to assess the long-term implications of growing China ASEAN ties, and if and to what extent the eme