As Air Force One lands in Malaysia on Sunday, President Trump begins a tour that will bring him face to face with China’s Xi Jinping and a region reshaped by rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Power contests now run through supply chains, ports and data centers as much as troops and warships, touching chip factories in South Korea, factory floors in Vietnam, the South China Sea and Taiwan. Ja Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore says countries like Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia want agency, preferring to be courted rather than treated as pawns.

Prepared by Rachel Morgan and reviewed by editorial team.