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Four days in Asia. That\u2019s all President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia needed to anger Washington, undermine Beijing and rattle a collection of Indo-Pacific nations already scrambling to cope with a jumbled world order.<\/p>\n
After stops in Pyongyang and Hanoi this week that were draped in Communist red, Mr. Putin left behind a redrawn map of risk in Asia. North Korea sat at the center: a rogue nuclear state that regularly threatens its neighbors, suddenly empowered by Russian promises of sophisticated military aid and a mutual defense pact.<\/p>\n
Mr. Putin also signed at least a dozen deals with Vietnam \u2014 a country of growing importance for both China and the United States as they vie for influence \u2014 where he insisted that \u201creliable security architecture\u201d could not be built with \u201cclosed military-political blocs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trip was both defiant and disruptive. It showed that the jockeying for power sometimes framed as a new Cold War between the United States and China is less binary than it might seem, and many countries in the region seemed to emerge from the week with a deeper sense of unease.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Putin\u2019s presence and his threats, bold one minute, vague the next, have added even more complexity to their already difficult calculations<\/a> around security and Great Power competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Over the past few years, the Indo-Pacific has been knocked around by a geopolitical shoving match between the United States and China, primarily over China\u2019s claims on Taiwan, and increasingly over heightened Chinese militarization in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n In May, China launched two days of intense navy and air force drills<\/a> around Taiwan in what it called a form of \u201cstrong punishment.\u201d The exercises came after Taiwan\u2019s new president pledged to defend the sovereignty of the self-governing island that Beijing sees as lost territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Just this week, another flashpoint \u2014 the South China Sea \u2014 edged closer to conflict. After months of bitter standoffs in the middle of a turquoise choke point for global trade, a Philippine Navy sailor was injured Monday<\/a> after ships from China and the Philippines collided near a disputed archipelago. Widening the potential ramifications, the Philippines is an ally the United States is treaty-bound to help in case of war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Many countries in the region were already beefing up their militaries to deal with China\u2019s pressure and the uncertainty over how far the rivalry between the United States and China might go.<\/p>\n