Power competition between US and China

Nguyen Khac Giang The Mekong region started 2021 with a blow as the Myan-mar military overthrew the country's democratically elected government. The coup, which ironically happened on the 10th an-niversary of Myan-mar's democratisation, cast a grim outlook over the regi-on's political landscape in 2021, which was also ma-rred by COVID-19 and th-e great power competition between US and China. The return to military dictatorship in Myanmar is an extreme case, but not the sole incident that marked a sharp authoritarian turn in the region. Thailand, desp-ite ostensibly returning to democracy after the 2019 election, maintains an entr-enched authoritarian regime with…