It is a challenging time to be a US ally. America is withdrawing from its role as system administrator in favour of becoming just another self-interested great power. To make matters worse, an informal alliance of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, called the “Axis of Evil”   by Western officials, is emerging.  Illustration by The Geostrata The region most anxious about these developments is the Indo-Pacific, the new theatre of great power competition. For Asia, Donald Tru

“You can change your friends but not your neighbours,” quoted by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is a truism in international relations....