Trump’s Tour de Asia: Talking and Threatening to Make A Mark

After his lavish praise and bilateral trade discussions with China, Trump took off at a different tangent in Vietnam ending his ‘diplomatic outlook’.  In Beijing, Trump blamed his own predecessors for the “huge” trade deficit between the world’s two largest economies.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference in Vietnam, Trump lashed out at countries for ‘cheating’ America. “We can no longer tolerate these chronic trade abuses and we will not tolerate them,” he said, with audio speakers in the large hall crackling as Trump raised his voice at times.

The speech was clearly, sometimes explicitly, focused on China and other countries on whom Trump blamed for predatory economic policies, accusing them of having “stripped” jobs, factories and industries out of the United States, reports Guardian.

Meanwhile, what looks like a scene straight out a movie the conclusion of US President’s 12 day Asia tour will coincide with United States Navy’s rare military coordination drill in the Western Pacific region. President Trump seems to be clearly making sure that no one misses his Aisa trip and his country’s presence in the region. He has ensured that the US naval power does this work for him in the region.

These will be the third naval exercises accompanying the visit of the US president to Asia, as well as APEC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forums in Vietnam and the Philippines.

The military maneuvers will involve the USS Nimitz, the Ronald Reagan, the Theodore Roosevelt and their accompanying warships. This is the first time three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups have exercised together in the region in a decade. According to Reuters, a Japanese destroyer, the Inazuma, will join the armada, two Japanese government officials said, following a separate three-day exercise with the Reagan and two Indian warships in the Sea of Japan that ended Monday.

The  drill as per the statement issued by US is to check complex multiple carrier groups preparedness targeting North Korea. But according to experts, the US muscle flexing is an attempt to challenge China, whose influence in the region is growing considerably.While Trump is demonstrating strength, there is every indication that China will not respond to the show of force in the same way. "China is not a warmongering nation," AlexeiFenenko, a Russian Academician said. "China has always pursued a peaceful strategy to increase its influence. That is why China will not respond [to the recent drills] militarily.”

Trump’s silence in Beijing, and then the sudden roar at the APEC conference and military maneuvering at his trip’s ‘grand finale’ shows his desperation to make a mark when back at home his ratings are going down. Richard A. Bitzinger, a Senior Fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore writes in Aisa Times:

[Trump is] man who sees himself as the consummate deal-maker, the player who believes that “winning” is everything and that the world is basically a zero-sum game is being played for a fool.It is easy to see why Trump loves to go overseas. It’s the only time he’s really treated like a president – or at least his idea of how a president should be treated. It’s all the kind of adulation he craves: red carpets, state dinners, speeches, and, above all, photo ops that show him being masterful and respected.”