Only the third week of the presidency of Donald Trump was held, and he already threatened traditional partners with tariffs and said that the United States could take control of gas. Asian countries are watching chaos, thinking if they will be the following. Meanwhile, China plans to take the opportunity to use a vacuum of leadership.
If Trump wants to protect his citizens, he must work on strengthening the Indo-Pacific Alliance, and not by its weakening. During the time of former President Joe Biden Washington built a support network uniting Australia, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Although many consider Beijing to be their largest trading partner, this diplomacy helped to convince them that joint work will do everyone stronger. She also helped keep China under control, Karishma Vaswani, Bloomberg Opinion observer, notes.
[see_also ids \u003d "
She adds that President Trump did not express himself clearly as to how he plans to pursue his foreign policy in Asia, but given his recent trade statements, we can assume that it will be unstable.
" The new Pentagon leader in Southeast Asia, John Andrew Bayers, plays for a “spiral of cooperation” with China in the South China Sea, which can jeopardize the interests of Manila in the controversial waterway. Now the proposal is considered to bring the American military forces close to the smaller number of coastal patrols belonging to Beijing, which indicates that the deterrence is fading into the background, ”the observer writes.
Some countries, such as Malaysia, are already waiting for the corresponding measures by the United States and the fact that they will impose tariffs. Prime Minister Anvar Ibrahim said that he was ready for everything when it comes to the Trump administration, and is building trade relations with China, Russia and Brazil to protect.
[see_also ids \u003d "
Almost all Asian countries consider China a large, if not the largest, trading partner. But some of them have closer security ties. A good first step would be to show them that the United States is still a reliable partner, having ensured the relevance of the Four Alliance - Japan, Australia, the USA and India, ”Vasvai adds.
The meeting of foreign ministers of the Four countries, held the day after Trump's inauguration, became a promising beginning. He must take another step and hold a summit of leaders during the first 100 days of his stay in office, the observer believes.
Meetings with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan would help strengthen the narrative that the United States still want to be attracted. After all, these are three powerful Indo-Pacific democracies that can help build partnerships that restrain the expansionist ambitions of China.
[see_also ids \u003d "
The world in the Taiwan Strait should be on the agenda of Tokyo and Washington, and Beijing will follow any signals from Trump about how devoted to Taibay to protect. This is a red line for President China Xi Jinping and will probably be a key point of negotiations in any potential American-Chinese trade agreement.
" With the return of Trump to the White House, many countries rethink what this means for their own security. If they cannot trust the United States as before, then they will have to be more compliant with China, which will lead to a decrease in the American "
[see_also ids \u003d "
Earlier we noted that Japanese Prime Minister Shiger Ishib and US President Donald Trump on Friday, February 7, held their first meeting in the White House. Both leaders praised each other, promising to work together in the confrontation of " Trump simultaneously insisted that Ishib reduced the shortage of the US trading balance with Japan to zero, and warned that Tokyo could wait for tariffs if this was not done.