China President Xi tests US allies in Indo-Pacific as Trump is busy elsewhere
Xi Jinping is making China’s presence more felt across the Indo-Pacific region by testing US allies on sensitive issues, as Donald Trump’s attention is taken up elsewhere.
From sending warships off Australia’s coast for unprecedented shooting drills to flying a record number of “grey zone” balloons around Taiwan, and putting pressure on Thailand over human rights issues, Beijing is ramping up efforts to project power in the region. China also issued a strongly worded warning on Taiwan to Tokyo — which doesn’t officially recognize Taipei — against “colluding” with separatists.
Trump’s sudden embrace of Russia, skepticism of NATO allies and tariffs that punish friendly nations have fueled concerns about the US as a reliable security partner in Asia, where Washington has for decades provided a buffer to Beijing.
The Republican leader has asked Taiwan to pay more for its defense, questioned Washington’s security pact with Japan, saying “we have to protect them, but they don’t have to protect us,” and hit US allies South Korea and Australia with metals duties.
For Xi, the opportunity to fracture US partnerships comes at a delicate time, as China tries to shield the world’s No. 2 economy from blanket levies that Trump has hiked by 20%.
Echoing Beijing’s tariff response, officials are keeping new attempts to sway Asian countries to below the threshold for US retaliation, for example ramping up official rhetoric toward Taiwan while refraining from major drills around the island.
“The Chinese state is pushing in every direction and just seeing how far it can go,” said Bill Hayton, an associate fellow with the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House, an independent British think tank. “Beijing is occupying space because it can,
