Kuala Lampur, May 12 -- If the Rafale incident represents a symbolic tilt in aerial supremacy from West to East, the aftershocks are now being felt across the wider Indo-Pacific.

Nowhere is this more visible than in Japan and South Korea - two technologically advanced democracies seeking deeper economic and diplomatic engagement with Asean, while delicately recalibrating their own security postures amid rising great power competition.

Yet even as Tokyo and Seoul "Look East," what they must now do is Think East. The fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan offers a brief window to rethink their Asean strategy - not just for trade, but for regional peace and systemic resilience.

Both Japan and South Korea have long viewed Asean throu...