Trump-Xi summit leaves Japan and South Korea feeling like bargaining chips
America’s North-east Asian allies fear abandonment in the big power play.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump outside the White House on Sept 24, during Xi’s state visit. The summit went well for China, but less so for anxious US allies Japan and South Korea, says the writer.
PHOTO: AFP
US allies Japan and South Korea, whose leaders have faced meetings with US President Donald Trump with trepidation, could only envy the recent red-carpet welcome accorded to America’s arch rival. An effusive Trump called China’s leader Xi Jinping “very smart”, a “great leader” and a “good friend”. He met Xi at the airport, something no US president had done for a foreign political leader since John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Prior to the Trump-Xi meeting in September, Japan and South Korea viewed the talks with apprehension but also held out hope for more US support for their national security and economic interests.