The war in Ukraine has a domino spillover that affects the Asian security architecture and boosts the ongoing great power competition between China and the US. If before the war the competition between democracies and autocracies was mainly only a rhetorical claim, the clash is now openly declared, and the US are asking friends and allies to take sides in the contest of the century. Therefore, regional countries have to find their way to survive an increasing external pressure, while the European Union is struggling to find its own way that seeks to exploit economic cooperation with the region without fully breaking ties with China. How will Asean countries react to an increased request for their alignment? What are the implications of an increasingly fragmented international community for multilateralism? And what would be the direct impact on Central Asia, where the interests of China and Russia are intertwined the most?