These efforts are not coordinated by ASEAN; instead, ASEAN has been used as a channel for implementing enmeshment
policies when member states have agreed that its incremental and informal processes were suitable to such pursuits. It is worth noting two key variants of Southeast Asian motivations for enmeshment as far as the two most significant
powers, the United States and China, are concerned. On the one hand, for U.S. allies in Southeast Asia nervous about a potential post–Cold War draw down from Asia, creating the ARF was meant to enmesh the United States in regional
institutions—to tie it down, so as to reduce uncertainty about the continued U.S. commitment to the region. This “superpower entrapment” is seen as the vital determinant of regional stability.