In new battle for the Pacific, US and China force regional states to take sides | Simon Tisdall

China's often harshly enforced claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea has alienated neighbours, provoking numerous confrontations over freedom of navigation, disputed islands and energy resources. President Xi Jinping's insists China simply wants a stable, prosperous multipolar world where countries follow their own path, free from outside interference and western ideas about "Universal" democratic and human rights. Many in the region remain wary of both China and the US. Malaysia's new prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, seems well disposed towards Beijing. The US scramble to recruit regional allies as part of its intensifying global "Decoupling" from China poses particular challenges for Biden, given his vow to boost democracy worldwide. Europe and the EU, which are re-examining the China relationship, face an identical dilemma. As its choice of coronation representative shows, China certainly doesn't. Take the recent insulting suggestion by China's wolf-warrior envoy in Paris, Lu Shaye, that former Soviet republics are not truly independent, sovereign states.