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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

In Asia Trump finds he’s among friends

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In Europe, Donald Trump’s relationships with leaders range from lukewarm to hostile. But in Asia, more than ever, the US president is finding that he’s among friends. At a time that Trump is ramping up pressure on China, he has built warm relationships elsewhere in Asia and has recently seen surprise electoral triumphs by key partners. Japan is rolling out the red carpet for Trump, who will become the first foreign leader to meet newly enthroned Emperor Naruhito. Trump will bond with conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over sumo wrestling and, weather permitting, their latest rounds of golf.


Trump’s trip comes on the heels of India’s election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a nationalist who has enthusiastically built ties with Washington, won an unexpectedly strong new mandate, as well as Australia’s polls, where Prime Minister Scott Morrison stunned pundits by beating back a challenge from the Labor Party, whose promises included a “more considered” approach to China.


Trump will return to Japan in June for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka and also visit South Korea, where President Moon Jae-in, despite coming from the opposite end of the political spectrum, laid the groundwork for one of Trump’s signature foreign policy initiatives — direct negotiations with North Korea.


The diplomacy comes amid an intense trade war between the United States and China that has no end in sight, with Trump blacklisting Chinese tech titan Huawei and demanding an end to allegedly rampant theft of US technology. Envisioning a long-term US struggle against China, the Trump administration has said it is working on a comprehensive policy to counter the rising Asian power, akin to the Cold War doctrine of containing the Soviet Union.


Toshihiro Nakayama, a professor at Keio University in Tokyo, said the Japanese were fully aware of the controversial nature of Trump, who is facing rising calls for impeachment from Democrats.


But the United States, which stations some 50,000 troops in Japan under a defence alliance, is by far the most important ally for Tokyo — as well as an often difficult partner on trade.


“There’s a consensus that if the American people chose Mr Trump, it’s not our job to criticize it; it’s our job to manage the relationship,” said Nakayama, also a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International scholars in Washington.


French President Emmanuel Macron “initially tried to embrace him with style and nuance and it didn’t succeed. So the Japanese government and people say that if you’re going to embrace Mr Trump, you have to totally embrace him,” Nakayama said.


Trump came of political age talking tough on trade in the 1980s, when Japan loomed large in the US imagination as a competitor.


But Abe has courted Trump assiduously since the mogul’s stunning election in 2016, gifting him gold-plated golf clubs and flying halfway around the world to celebrate his wife Melania’s birthday.


Patrick Buchan, a longtime Australian official who directs the US Alliances Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Abe served as a global model on how to woo Trump — making the relationship personal and resolving concerns through private channels.


“The Europeans, in my opinion, completely mishandled the Trump phenomenon. By responding to his public rhetoric or his Twitter tirades, you only created a vicious circle,” Buchan said. “I think it is partly, if you want, the Asian way of not engaging in megaphone diplomacy,” he said. To be sure, Trump’s ties with allies in the region have also hit rocky patches. — AFP


Shaun TANDON


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