North Korea, South China Sea and trade fights are all on U.S. secretary of state’s agenda.

ASEAN realizes that geopolitical and geostrategic shifts taking place in the region will usher in both rewards and risks. But while being opportunistic, ASEAN knows the stakes are high should unbridled rivalry play out.

The behavior of both US and Chinese officials at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue signaled the end of a period of relative peace in the Indo-Pacific region. The smaller states are increasingly concerned that the two superpowers will simply stumble into war, and urge the two to find common ground on shared challenges to maintain a peaceful relationship.

In the Shangri-La Summit, the Trump administration introduced a new, muscular Indo-Pacific strategy, which is fueled by private interests and foreign governments - not the interests of the US, China or emerging Asia.

China is not seeking a sphere of influence in Pacific Ocean island states, President Xi Jinping told the visiting prime minister of Vanuatu amid fears in Western capitals of China’s growing role in the region.

The U.S. military has held talks with the Federated States of Micronesia about joint military exercises and new naval facilities.

Through the use of rhetorical narratives, the American “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” is intended to be an alternative to China’s Belt & Road Initiative, emboldening counterproductive geopolitical competition in the region.

Indonesia grows increasingly wary of an expansionist China.

The Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy faces significant obstacles.

The agreement for a single draft text as the basis for further negotiations for a Code of Conduct (COC) is a significant milestone in the long-running South China Sea saga, argues Lucio Blanco Pitlo III.