{"id":4072,"date":"2025-03-06T15:55:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/chinas-warships-are-turning-up-in-unexpected-places-and-alarming-us-allies-is-this-the-new-normal\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T15:55:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:55:28","slug":"chinas-warships-are-turning-up-in-unexpected-places-and-alarming-us-allies-is-this-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/chinas-warships-are-turning-up-in-unexpected-places-and-alarming-us-allies-is-this-the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s warships are turning up in unexpected places and alarming US allies. Is this the new normal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese warships have been circumnavigating Australia\u2019s coastline for more than three weeks, passing within 200 miles of Sydney, <\/strong>and staging unprecedented live-fire drills on its doorstep with New Zealand. <\/p>\n

The exercises, which came without formal notice, has deep caused consternation in both nations. Suddenly, the specter of China\u2019s military power was suddenly no longer confined to the distant waters of the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait \u2013 where China\u2019s territorial aggression has escalated under leader Xi Jinping \u2013 but a stark reality unfolding much closer to home. <\/p>\n

At the same time, Chinese warships have been sighted near Vietnam and Taiwan, part of a show of Chinese naval strength in the Pacific region that regularly rattles US allies. <\/p>\n

China was unapologetic and insisted it complied with international law, with state media suggesting Western countries should get used to Chinese warships in nearby waters. <\/p>\n

In the past, Washington\u2019s partners have found comfort in their firm ties with the US, but that was before Donald Trump\u2019s explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the US leader\u2019s subsequent order to halt aid to Ukraine as it battles Russia\u2019s invasion. <\/p>\n

The bust-up in the Oval Office served to sharpen anxieties in capitals across the Pacific: If the US is willing to turn its back on Ukraine \u2013 effectively rewarding Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s aggression in Europe \u2013 would it do the same in Asia when faced with a belligerent Beijing? <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s embrace of Russia and his cold shoulder to Europe \u2013 driven by a transactional approach that Singapore\u2019s defense minister likened to a \u201clandlord seeking rent\u201d \u2013 has heightened trepidation in the Indo-Pacific region, where many nations look to the US to keep Chinese aggression in check. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt does raise issues as to whether the US will be committed to regional security. And even if the US remains committed, what will the Trump administration ask in return?\u201d said Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore. <\/p>\n

Experts say it\u2019s a fair question from allies who\u2019ve long relied on the US to provide security assurances, enabling them to limit their own defense spending. <\/p>\n

Now might be the time, they add, for American partners, like Australia and New Zealand, to reexamine budgets and tighten regional alliances with other countries that could find themselves exposed as Trump pursues his \u201cAmerica first\u201d mantra. <\/p>\n

\u2018Test of resolve\u2019<\/h2>\n

Australia has made sure the world is aware of China\u2019s movements in international waters in the South Pacific, issuing daily location updates from trailing Australian Navy ships and spy planes. <\/p>\n

Defense Minister Richard Marles said the data would be analyzed to determine exactly what China was doing \u2013 and what message it was intending to send. <\/p>\n

China\u2019s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, maintained that China posed no threat to Australia while signaling that more warship visits should be expected. \u201cAs a major power in this region\u2026it is normal for China to send their vessels to different parts of the region to conduct various kinds of activities,\u201d Xiao told Australia\u2019s public broadcaster the ABC. <\/p>\n

Across the Pacific in Washington, Trump was sending his own message to US partners in Europe that they needed to step up military spending in defense of Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Before his fractious meeting with Zelensky, Trump had intended to sign mineral resources deal with the Ukrainian leader so that the US could recoup some of the cost of its aid to Ukraine since Russia\u2019s invasion. But the signing ceremony was abandoned, with Trump telling Zelensky on his social platform Truth Social to \u201ccome back when he is ready for Peace.\u201d <\/p>\n

By subsequently cutting off military aid to Ukraine, Trump was seeking to force rich European nations to shoulder more of the load, say experts. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe believes they have all been free riding off the United States for half a century,\u201d said Peter Dean, the director of foreign policy and defense at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. <\/p>\n

The move seemed to reap rewards when on Tuesday the European Union unveiled a plan to allow member states to borrow \u20ac150 billion ($158 billion) to boost their defense spending and \u201cmassively step up\u201d their military support for Kyiv. <\/p>\n

Dean says Trump wants a deal for peace in Ukraine; however, he\u2019s ignoring Zelensky\u2019s concerns about the longevity of that peace without measures to keep Putin in check. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to be that (Trump) almost wants peace at any price, rather than a peace that is fair and equitable, or a peace that you keep,\u201d he said. \u201cThe question is, what does the deal look like? And that\u2019s what everyone\u2019s worried about. How much is he willing to trade away?\u201d <\/p>\n

As Trump upends the transatlantic alliance \u2013 a pillar of Western security for decades \u2013 his administration has signaled that the US should wrap up conflicts elsewhere to focus on deterring China in the Pacific. <\/p>\n

The urgency of that aim was highlighted by China\u2019s latest flexing of its military muscle. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a test of resolve, for sure,\u201d said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at RSIS in Singapore, of China\u2019s military drills. \u201cChina (is) carving out a sphere of influence in the Pacific to test to see if countries in the region are going to resist it.\u201d <\/p>\n

AUKUS: What\u2019s that?<\/h2>\n

Even before Trump\u2019s clash with Zelensky, the presence of Chinese warships on its southern coast had turned Australia\u2019s attention to AUKUS, its multibillion-dollar security deal with the US and the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n

Concerns had flared about whether the deal could withstand the whims of Trump\u2019s White House when a British reporter asked the US president if he and his UK counterpart had spoken about AUKUS. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d Trump replied. The incident was later brushed off by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as an issue of accents. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to have to limit the questions to Americans he can understand,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Dean, from the University of Sydney, said it\u2019s no bad thing that Trump wasn\u2019t across the acronym because the deal already has the fulsome support of his closest advisers. <\/p>\n

That support was cemented by Australia\u2019s first down payment of $500 million to bolster America\u2019s submarine production, with the agreement that some nuclear-powered subs will be sold to Australia to boost its military capability in the Indo-Pacific. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of deal Trump will want to focus on in the future, Dean said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s looking to make money for the United States, and he\u2019s looking to do better deals. And AUKUS is a bit of an exemplar deal for them,\u201d Dean said. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Europeans, I wouldn\u2019t underestimate Donald Trump looking at this and going, if the Australians can do this, why can\u2019t you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018No tolerance for free riders\u2019<\/h2>\n

Elsewhere across the Pacific, US allies appeared unsettled by the extraordinary scenes in the Oval Office. <\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba struck a cautious tone on Monday, insisting he had \u201cno intention of taking sides\u201d when asked about the Trump-Zelensky clash. <\/p>\n

Yet, he vowed to do his utmost to \u201cmaintain US involvement and promote unity\u201d among the Group of Seven nations \u2013 hinting at growing disquiet over the fracturing of the Western alliance. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s Ukraine could be tomorrow\u2019s East Asia,\u201d he added. \u201cWe must also consider steadily increasing our deterrent power to prevent war.\u201d <\/p>\n

Japan, which has territorial disputes with China in the East China Sea, has raised concern about increasing Chinese military maneuvers in its nearby waters. Last year, a Chinese aircraft carrier entered Japan\u2019s contiguous waters for the first time. <\/p>\n

South Korea, another US ally in East Asia, declined to comment on the meeting between Trump and Zelensky but said it was closely monitoring US suspension of military aid to Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly called on allies like South Korea to pay more for US troops stationed on their territory. In a speech to Congress on Wednesday, he once again made a veiled threat while referencing what he called unfair tariffs South Korea places on US goods \u2013 something Seoul denies. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe give so much help military and in so many other ways to South Korea. But that\u2019s what happened, this is happening by friend and foe,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

In Taiwan, the self-governing democracy China has vowed to one day absorb, Defense Minister Wellington Koo tried to reassure confidence despite what he described as \u201crapid and bizarre changes\u201d in the international landscape. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the United States won\u2019t retreat from the Indo-Pacific region, because this is its core interests,\u201d he told reporters in a briefing Tuesday, citing shared interests with Washington in economic development, geopolitics and US military security. <\/p>\n

But Koo also nodded to Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica first\u201d stance. \u201cIn international politics, we also deeply realize that we can\u2019t just talk about values and not talk about interests. Of course, the United States must value its own national interests,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Experts say the US has become frustrated at having to shoulder the weight of other countries who fail to contribute to their own defense. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration has made clear its lack of tolerance. It\u2019s had no tolerance for free riders,\u201d said Thompson, from RSIS in Singapore. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the countries that get that message clearest and fastest are the ones that are going to be the good partners of the United States, because it\u2019s not like the US is abandoning allies. What the US is doing is prioritizing its most capable ones,\u201d Thompson said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinese warships have been circumnavigating Australia\u2019s coastline for more than three weeks, passing within 200 miles of Sydney, and staging unprecedented live-fire drills on its doorstep with New Zealand. The exercises, which came without formal notice, has deep caused consternation in both nations. Suddenly, the specter of China\u2019s military power was suddenly no longer confined…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}