Trump’s Tour De Asia: Tooting His Own Trumpet

Terming his administration as a very different one than the United States has had in the past, Donald Trump ‘warned’ North Korea not to underestimate him. Trump is on a 12-day tour of Asia in an attempt to boost the US presence in the region, after all his domestic attempts to make the North Korean regime submit failed. 

It now appears that Trump’s one-man secret mission to personally face off with North Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ) has been defeated by the bad weather. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the President is “actually pretty frustrated.” 

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has welcomed Seoul’s plans to purchase billions of dollars’ worth of American military hardware. On Tuesday on the third day of his Asia tour, he arrived in South Korea. At a joint media conference with South Korean President, Trump warned Pyongyang that he is prepared to use the “full range” of US military power to stop any attack.

According to Alexei Fenenko, an associate professor at the World Politics Department of Moscow State University: 

"Trump has found himself in an embarrassing situation. In May he had repeatedly promised to solve the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) nuclear issue, but nothing has been done yet. [On the other hand] he didn't dare to use force. Naturally, questions have been raised among [American] allies whether the US is really strong and concerns emerged whether [the Americans] are still committed to their obligations,"

Three US aircraft carrier strike groups, including the USS Nimitz, the Ronald Reagan, the Theodore Roosevelt and their accompanying warships, conducted exercise together in the region. According to experts, the US muscle flexing is an attempt to challenge China, whose influence is in the region is growing considerably. 

US President Donald Trump arrived in China on Wednesday in his tour’s third leg. He is likely to focus heavily on bilateral trade and tensions with North Korea. It is Trump's first visit to the country since he assumed office in January. 

He is the first head of state to visit China since the landmark 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xinhua news agency reported.

Despite the focus on the trade issues, Trump seems to have already made up his mind on China. "Trump has already clearly formulated the Indo-Pacific strategy," says Yang Mian, a political analyst at the Center for International Relations at the Chinese Institute of Communications. He further added that “Trump’s strategy envisages the need to preserve the US dominance in the Indo-Pacific region, to strengthen the US-Indian alliance.”

(with inputs from IANS)