On February 11th, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies hosted Benjamin Ho, Assistant Professor at the China Program of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). The event was moderated by David Shambaugh, a Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science & International Affairs and Director of the China Policy Program at GWU. Of late, the notion of a rules-based order (RBO) has been used in many foreign policy speeches, both among American policy makers and those in Southeast Asia. Linked to this notion of a rules-based order is the view that a liberal international order (LIO) best secures the interests of countries around the world, and one that is related to America’s normative preference of how the world should be ordered. However, the growing prominence of so-called illiberal states like China and Russia in recent years have challenged the future of a liberal international order. Drawing from the fieldwork interviews conducted over the past two months, this talk will examine various iterations of the concepts of RBO/LIO among American scholars/thinkers and how they reflect American views towards Southeast Asia and the extent to which countries in the region support America’s vision of the world.