Opinion | Under Donald Trump, the US is letting its anxiety about China hurt relationships with its allies

Amid concerns about the China threat, the US’ relationships with its allies are suffering. Countries like South Korea are increasingly being caught between the US and China, and forced to negotiate tangled webs of security and trade issues

Reading Time:3 minutes

South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks on the phone on December 7 with US President Donald Trump. Trump has hinted at the possibility of reducing US troops in South Korea. Photo: DPA

Published: 11:00am, 11 Dec 2019Updated: 12:50pm, 11 Dec 2019

I attend events such as the Shangri-La Dialogue, Xiangshan Forum, Primakov Readings and Seoul Defence Dialogue nearly every year, but the Halifax International Security Forum is something unique. Although there are only 300 participants at the event in Nova Scotia, quality trumps quantity.

As a captivating stage for experts in fields such as the military, politics and the media, the well-balanced event reflects the Indo-Pacific itself, which is both free and open. Forum topics like “Our Way or the Huawei” are quite witty, too.

Discussions were wide-ranging. From climate change and space, to energy and democracy, from the Arctic and Sudan to Hong Kong and South Korea-Japan relations, every global interest of the United States was addressed or touched on.

The event’s Star Wars-esque theme music was evocative of both the US’ sense of duty as leader of the free world, and its sense of superiority.

During one of the plenary sessions, music from the popular series Friends was played to emphasise the US’ upbeat relationship with its allies. However, this and themes like freedom and common values felt a bit detached from the reality of Donald Trump’s “America first” agenda, which is pushing the international order towards nationalism, based on survival of the fittest.

At the forum, participants – whether from the US or its allies – were almost unanimous: China featured in the conclusion of each session. The threat the US feels from China surpasses both the military threat from the former Soviet Union and the economic threat from Japan.

America is hoping its concerns about China will be shared by all, but the scope and scale of its allies’ participation depends on each country's geopolitical and geoeconomic situation.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x