Asia shaken as US abandons role as guardian of rules-based order

Many Southeast Asian countries voiced concern at a security summit in Singapore in late May over what they see as a shift under U.S. President Donald Trump toward a more power-based approach to international relations. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters) 

SINGAPORE -- Defense ministers and senior military officers from Asia, the U.S. and Europe sparred at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in late May amid growing concern that U.S. President Donald Trump's "peace through strength" approach could come at the expense of the "rules-based order."