Author: Kelly A. Grieco
Published: June, 2026
WHEN MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called the current moment “an age of flux,” he undoubtedly spoke for many in the region. The sources of that flux are not hard to identify. Chinese economic and military power has grown steadily, reshaping the regional balance, intensifying disputes in the East and South China Seas, and giving Beijing greater capacity to translate its economic weight into coercive leverage. At the same time, the United States under President Donald Trump has injected additional uncertainty, questioning alliance commitments, imposing tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, and signaling that American engagement in the region is increasingly transactional and unpredictable. Taken together, these dynamics are producing a strategic environment more uncertain and contested than anything the region has faced since the end of the Cold War.'
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The article was published by Global Asia.
The Romanian Institute for Europe-Asia Studies (IRSEA) and Global Asia Forum a Journal of East Asia Foundation. have agreed to enter into an informal agreement on republishing their studies and analysis.
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