The Rules-based Order: In Dire Straits, But Not Dead
Daljit Singh
As the US steps away from the rules-based order it helped create, smaller countries need to step up to the plate to maintain it.

Daljit Singh
As the US steps away from the rules-based order it helped create, smaller countries need to step up to the plate to maintain it.
Surachanee Sriyai
Myanmar resistance groups depend on Starlink to circumvent government controls. But this can also be its Achilles heel.
Melinda Martinus
Under Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia is expected to further distance itself from traditional Western alliances — a trend initiated during Jokowi’s administration — by prioritising partnerships within Asia, particularly with China for trade and investment, and strengthening regional cooperation through ASEAN and BRICS.
Jayant Menon
The implications of the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff policy on Southeast Asia are still unclear, as certain questions need to be answered.
Mirza Sadaqat Huda
Trump’s rent-seeking foreign policy pertaining to energy and critical minerals will force Southeast Asian countries to do what they least desire: making a choice between China and the US.
Phan Xuan Dung
Suspending USAID programmes risks undermining years of work building trust between the former enemies and helping victims of the Vietnam War.
Stephen Olson
Southeast Asia was spared in the initial flurry of Trumpian trade actions, but Trump’s introduction of expansive and unprecedented non-trade issues into trade relations will inevitably entangle the region.
Hoang Thi Ha
US President Donald Trump's rhetoric in past weeks has sparked a chain reaction of alarm in Southeast Asia. If his words become deeds, the region's uneven but evident bedrock of trust in the US, carefully built up since World War Two's end, could slowly turn to dust.
Julio S. Amador III
The US-Philippines alliance is expected to be reinforced in the Trump 2.0 administration. It will, however, be tested given existing regional flashpoints and the need to follow through commitments pledged in previous years.
Daljit Singh
A ceasefire in Ukraine could enable Washington to strengthen its deterrence network in the Indo-Pacific. But this depends on whether Trump hews to traditional balance of power considerations.