While giving a speech during her visit to Singapore, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said (SCMP) Washington seeks to strengthen the global rules-based order and criticized Beijing’s attempts to “coerce and intimidate” in the South China Sea. She also said U.S. engagement in the Indo-Pacific is not “designed to make anyone choose between countries.”
For Foreign Affairs, Bonnie S. Glaser and Gregory Poling discuss how to build a coalition to confront Beijing in the South China Sea.
Malaysia: New Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said he will not appoint any opposition leaders (Star/Asia News Network) to his cabinet and that it is not a unity government. Ismail Sabri’s swearing in put control of the government (Al Jazeera) back in the hands of the country’s longest-ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation, after it was voted out of power in 2018 following a corruption scandal.
