Denis Staunton: As Europe wrings its hands at the US, the rest of the world may be organising

Singapore’s defence minister, Ng Eng Hen, said the US has become perceived in Asia as ‘a landlord seeking rent’. Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA While JD Vance's pot-and-kettle critique of European democracy made most of the headlines at last weekend's Munich Security Conference, another speech drew attention across Asia. This was Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen's analysis of how the latest shift in American foreign policy would affect southeast Asia and the Global South more broadly. Singapore has a close security partnership with Washington, offering United States forces access to all its military facilities and hosting a US Navy logistics…