Two recent developments to India’s east offer insights into the rapidly shifting contours of Asian geopolitics. The first was the annual Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in Singapore, where US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined the administration’s priorities for Asia. French President Emmanuel Macron’s keynote address offered a European perspective on Asian security that diverged from Washington’s in key respects. The second was South Korea’s presidential election, where the likely victory of left-leaning candidate Lee Jae-myung could reshape not only Korea’s political trajectory but also the strategic dynamics of Northeast Asia. More broadly, South Korea’s political churn reflects the growing dilemmas across Asia in responding to an assertive China and an increasingly unpredictable US.

As expected, US-China relations dominated discussions at the SLD. The absence of China’s defence minister underscored the current crisis in bilateral ties. The SLD historically served as a valuable platform for US-China dialogue on regional security. Much of Asia was eager to hear from Hegseth about the Trump administration’s strategic intentions. Many countries remain caught in the crossfire of President Donald Trump’s trade wars and were watching closely to see if Washington would uphold traditional alliances or, as in Europe, move to dismantle them.

Hegseth, however, steered clear of economics, saying his focus was “tanks, not tariffs”. He had strong words on China’s military capabilities and ambitions of annexing Taiwan. Even as Hegseth warned against Chinese hegemony, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the breakdown of the trade........

© Indian Express