Nataliya Butyrska, Associate Senior Fellow at the New Europe Center, examines in a new analytical paper how intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China is transforming the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific region and what this means for regional actors.

The author notes that Donald Trump’s second presidency has significantly changed the nature of the US presence in the region: Washington is moving toward a more selective model of engagement, with greater emphasis on burden-sharing among allies and its allies are being forced to adapt.

In the paper, Nataliya Butyrska examines:

• how the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East have exposed the interconnectedness of different security theatres and influenced the defence planning of countries across the region;
• why Japan is undertaking its most significant defence rearmament since the Second World War and building a new networked security architecture in the region;
• how Southeast Asian countries are balancing between Washington and Beijing while avoiding having to choose between the two powers;
• why containing China increasingly depends not only on the US military presence, but also on a joint defence-industrial ecosystem among allies;
• which scenarios surrounding Taiwan are the most likely and how the policies of the Donald Trump administration are affecting regional stability.

Read more on the website of the Centre for International Security.