‘An epochal change’: what a Trump presidency means for the Asia Pacific region

Donald Trump’s victory has the potential to radically redraw the geopolitical landscape in Asia, where Barack Obama has been trying to counterbalance China’s growing regional influence with his “pivot” strategy. Some believe a Trump presidency could represent the biggest threat to Washington’s security ties with its two biggest allies in the Asia-Pacific – Japan and South Korea – since the end of the second world war. But the rest of the region will be watching intently. “There is a sense that this is a big epochal change, that this is the end of the old order and we are not sure what is coming,” said Nick Bisley, an international relations expert from La Trobe University in Melbourne. “And I think this is especially true in Asia because it is the place where you have seen American influence most obviously challenged, politically and economically, by a rising China. “It doesn’t seem that Trump is going to be interested in defending those old verities of US primacy in Asia and carrying the lion’s share of the weight of maintaining the strategic balance in the region,” he added. “It is now going to be much more self-interested in how it behaves.” China On… Read full this story

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