Trump sends jitters through Asia

The United States’ closest allies in Asia seemed blindsided by President Donald Trump’s latest outburst against North Korea, in which he threatened not just to act against Kim Jong Un’s regime but to destroy an entire country of 25 million people.

In his maiden speech to the UN General Assembly, Trump derided Kim as “rocket man” and said the US would “totally destroy North Korea” if needed to protect its allies. Those allies, Japan and South Korea, were silent on Trump’s threat to bring war to their region, while China and Russia both warned that Trump risked fuelling tensions.

China’s nationalist Global Times ran a cartoon captioned “Bully pulpit” showing Trump holding a megaphone, shouting “America First,” while the state-owned China Daily said Trump’s speech was “full of sound and fury”. In an editorial it said: “His threat to ‘totally destroy’ [North Korea] if need be will . . . likely worsen the already volatile situation.”

The silence from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was particularly telling because he has been eager to agree with Trump’s every utterance on dealing with North Korea. A spokesman for Abe, Motosada Matano, declined to comment on Trump’s speech.

South Korean President Moon Jae In, whom Trump accused of trying to “appease” North Korea by wanting to talk to the regime, has also been trying hard to show he is in synch with Trump. Moon’s spokesman pointedly avoided reacting to Trump’s “total destruction” line, saying the speech underscored the urgency of dealing with North Korea and that Seoul believed Trump remained committed to peace.

Analysts said that Trump’s speech would ring alarm bells in the region.

“American rhetoric on North Korea has traditionally been quite restrained, they haven’t been trying to match the North Korean rhetoric,” said John Delury, an American professor of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul. “So there is a genuine concern here: is the Trump administration serious?”

Narushige Michishita, of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said many Japanese would be concerned about Japan suffering during any conflict.

Cui Zhiying of Tongji University in Shanghai, said: “War is an unimaginable option and it should not be an option at all. It would hurt all parties. Peaceful, diplomatic dialogue is the only way to solve this issue.”