Ben Bland is the director of the Southeast Asia program at the Lowy Institute and the author of "Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia."
Many officials in Beijing, Washington and other Western capitals increasingly see U.S.-China competition as a binary battle for power and influence centered on the Indo-Pacific. This framing provides a strong impetus for generals, diplomats and strategists to rally their respective publics and marshal resources.
