Last year, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States established an alliance to pursue their shared interests in Asia. However, many saw their new alliance, AUKUS, as an affront, not only France. "We were immediately skeptical," says Liew Chin Tong, former deputy defence minister of Malaysia, describing as "problematic" the attempt by a U.S.- and European-dominated alliance to try to influence the Asian security order. -mb
Katrin Rulle