US President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump on Friday embarked on the longest trip to Asia by an American president in more than a quarter century, looking for help to pressure North Korea to stand down from a nuclear crisis.
Trump’s tour of Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines from Friday to Nov. 14 will take him out of Washington.
First stop: Hawaii
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk towards reporters before departing from the South Lawn of the White House.
Trump will fly on Friday morning to Hawaii, stopping for a briefing on US military forces in the Pacific and a visit to Pearl Harbor.
Trump then will visit Japan and South Korea in search of a united front against North Korea before going to Beijing, where he will push Chinese President Xi Jinping to get tougher with Pyongyang.
In the Fox interview, Trump was asked if he planned to be tough on China over thorny issues including trade, intellectual property theft and subsidies.
“You have to understand something - very important,” he responded. “We have a problem called North Korea.”
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis clearly laid out how deterrence should work in parallel with diplomatic options in conversation with South Korea’s defense minister Song Young-moo last week according to International Institute of Strategic Studies Senior Fellows for Asia-Pacific Security, William Choong and Alexander Neill.
Choong and Neil outlined that there is no guarantee that President Trump will not stray from this script, but it is critically important for Asia-Pacific security that he controls his temper, even if North Korea conducts another nuclear or missile test during his visit.
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis clearly laid out how deterrence should work in parallel with diplomatic options in conversation with South Korea’s defense minister Song Young-moo last week according to International Institute of Strategic Studies Senior Fellows for Asia-Pacific Security, William Choong and Alexander Neill.
Choong and Neil outlined that there is no guarantee that President Trump will not stray from this script, but it is critically important for Asia-Pacific security that he controls his temper, even if North Korea conducts another nuclear or missile test during his visit.
Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping “has been pretty terrific” in cutting Pyongyang off from banking and oil systems. He added that Japan had reason to be worried about North Korea and alluded to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign for a military buildup against that threat.
“Well, you know Japan is a warrior nation,” he said. “I tell China and I tell everyone else that, listen, you’re going to have yourself a big problem with Japan pretty soon if you allow this to continue with North Korea.”
Trump will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, make a state visit to Hanoi and end his trip with the Association of South East Asia Nations summit in Manila. Trump told reporters before leaving on Friday he would spend an extra day in the Philippines.
The last time a US president was in Asia for so long was in late 1991 and early 1992, when President George H.W. Bush became ill at a Japanese state dinner.
Source: Extracted From Al Arabiya, 3 November 2017
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