US President Donald Trump's policy changes in less than two months have not only affected the situation in Europe or the war in Ukraine, but may also have a significant impact on the Asian situation.
Yesterday (March 7), AFP quoted French President Emmanuel Macron affirming that his country is a "loyal ally" of the United States.
Allies Divided
The statement came after President Trump expressed doubts about whether NATO allies would defend the US if attacked. President Macron cited NATO members accompanying Washington in the military campaign in Afghanistan after the US was attacked on September 11, 2001.
This is one of the new signs of disagreement between the US and its allies on the other side of the Atlantic. Recently, the EU announced an increase in its defense budget to $800 billion as a move to promote autonomy and limit dependence on the US. The two sides also disagreed significantly on the Ukraine conflict as well as policy towards Russia. Most recently, on the same day, March 7, Reuters reported that France continued to provide intelligence information to Ukraine despite the US suspending this activity.
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in the US in 2017
Not only that, NBC on March 7 quoted 5 close sources revealing that many allies are considering limiting intelligence sharing with Washington, because of concerns that US policy under Mr. Trump is becoming closer to Russia. Accordingly, the allies are considering the above move because of concerns about protecting intelligence "assets" abroad whose identities and information may be accidentally disclosed. The above allies include: Israel, Saudi Arabia and members of the Five Eyes group (which consists of 5 countries: the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand).
However, the parties have not commented on NBC's information.
Influence on Asian affairs
The above developments not only affect the situation in Europe but also the Asia-Pacific region or more broadly the Indo-Pacific.
First of all, in recent times, the US has established a multi-layered military cooperation network in the Indo-Pacific through many bilateral and multilateral models such as the Quad (US - Japan - Australia - India), the AUKUS agreement (US - UK - Australia)... To avoid barriers requiring large-scale uniformity like NATO, this multi-layered network has a combination of bilateral security, military, and intelligence agreements, of which the Five Eyes is an important foundation. Therefore, if NBC's information is correct, the fact that the Five Eyes members limit intelligence sharing will have a significant impact on the aforementioned network.
Not only that, the US's actions towards EU countries are considered to make Washington's allies in Asia worried about the White House's commitments and cooperation under President Trump. That could weaken the relationship between these countries, creating opportunities for China to make more moves in the Indo-Pacific.
Regarding the above scenario, CNN reported on March 7 that Chinese warships have recently appeared unexpectedly in several areas of the Indo-Pacific, causing concern among US allies and partners. Typically, Chinese warships have been "circling" around Australia for the past 3 weeks, and also held live-fire exercises at the end of February. Similarly, Chinese warships have also increased their activities in the Taiwan Strait and near a Southeast Asian country that is a claimant in the East Sea.
Meanwhile, Washington has recently shown a tough stance towards Beijing, when it twice increased tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, each time increasing the tax rate by 10%.
However, China has also responded with tariffs and sent out many strong messages aimed at the US. Also yesterday, Reuters quoted Mr. Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission and Chinese Foreign Minister, affirming that Beijing will firmly resist US pressure on tariffs and the fentanyl issue.
Also related to this topic, responding to The New York Times at a press conference on March 4, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian also stated: "If war is what the United States wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other kind of war, we are ready to fight to the end." Not only that, despite the US tax policy, at the ongoing two-day conference, China has set a goal of maintaining the 2025 GDP growth rate at 5% as the target for 2024.
China's confidence is seen as a result of Beijing's preparation and assessment that Washington's policies under Trump may not be very effective due to the lack of coordination among allies.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/the-cuoc-chau-a-giua-trap-trung-chinh-sach-cua-ong-trump-18525030723311014.htm
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