US Navy flexes soft power in ‘renewed pivot’ to Southeast Asia amid regional rivalry

The US Navy has launched its largest annual humanitarian mission in the Indo-Pacific with a renewed focus on Southeast Asia, in what analysts described as part of Washington’s effort to rebuild confidence and project soft power in a region central to its rivalry with China. Pacific Partnership 2026, the US Navy’s largest annual maritime humanitarian and civic assistance effort in the Indo-Pacific, began after US personnel departed San Diego on May 27 for a mission-coordinating hub in the...