Kuala Lampur, May 29 -- The upcoming Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore was once conceived as a platform where the Asia-Pacific could manage strategic tensions through dialogue, confidence-building and military diplomacy. It symbolized a region that, despite its many rivalries, still believed in restraint, predictability and economic interdependence.

Today, however, the Asia-Pacific no longer resembles any mythical Shangri-La.

The prolonged mayhem in West Asia, involving Iran, Israel and the United States, has fundamentally altered the strategic psychology of Asia.

What once appeared geographically distant is now directly affecting the economic and security calculations of every major Asian power and almost every Asean member state.

The...