“For those of us like Australia, Japan or Korea, who have been dependent on that continuity, we have got to start thinking about a situation where the U.S. is much more self interested, and more more capricious on what it might do,” said Nick Bisley, a professor of international relations at La Trobe University in Melbourne. “Countries in the region have got to sit down and say those old arrangements can’t last forever.”
Trump’s willingness to publicly attack America’s friends in Asia marks a sharp contrast from the Obama administration, which sought to build a united front against China’s military and economic clout. Trump instead has suggested Asian nations should pay more for U.S. security and pulled out of a 12-nation Pacific trade deal.
Earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed back on Trump’s accusations his country was gaming the foreign exchange market and hindering U.S. auto sales. Still, Abe has a bigger concern when he meets Trump on Feb. 10: Japan depends on the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” to protect it from China and North Korea.
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