News Snapshot:
The outlines of the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy are emerging. Public comments from administration figures indicate that the US is aiming to build more bespoke or ad hoc regional coalitions – like the Quad and AUKUS – to balance China’s military power and buttress the “rules-based order.” At the heart of the US-China contest in the Indo-Pacific is a competition for influence in Southeast Asia. But beating the drum of the “rules-based order” or sounding the alarm on Chinese military and economic coercion has less resonance among Southeast Asian post-colonial elites than Washington thinks. Regional countries don’t want to subscribe...
