Kuala Lampur, Sept. 10 -- For years, one of the most common descriptions of Southeast Asian foreign policy has been "hedging."

Asean member states, according to this interpretation, hedge between the United States and China.

They cooperate economically with Beijing while maintaining security relationships with Washington.

They avoid choosing sides because the strategic outcome of great-power competition remains uncertain.

There is some truth to this interpretation. But "hedging" has become too narrow a concept to describe what Asean states are actually doing.

They are not merely hedging their bets. They are spreading and deepening their options. A better word for this behaviour may be polytropous.

Derived from the Greek polytropos, ...