Trump’s missiles hold a message for China and Russia, but can the US stay the distance?

Simon Tay says US air strikes on Syria and naval muscle-flexing off North Korea are more a message for Putin and Xi than Assad and Kim, as well as a reminder that America still calls the global shots

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President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) annual summit in the Indian state of Goa, last October 15. Recent military moves ordered by US President Donald Trump bear implications for China’s claim to a larger place in a world long-dominated by America, and for Putin’s reassertion of Russian geopolitical weight. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:07pm, 14 Apr 2017Updated: 11:53pm, 10 Dec 2019

Some had expected a confrontation over trade and other issues when US President Donald Trump hosted President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Florida late last week. But there were no missed handshakes to upset protocol – as there had been when Trump met German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. There were no major breakthroughs either.

Watch: Trump appears to snub Merkel’s offer of a handshake

The most concrete outcome will focus on Americans getting better access to China’s market for financial services and beef.

A deadline of 100 days has been set and this is doable, given that negotiations on these issues began earlier, with the administration of Barack Obama. If this is successful, Trump could claim himself a dealmaker with China.

But, consider the bigger events outside the room, set in motion even as the US and Chinese leaders sat down together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate: more is at stake.

Just before he sat down for dinner with the Chinese president, Trump ordered a missile strike on Syria. Then, the American navy deployed in waters off North Korea, after a series of provocative missile launches by Pyongyang. These muscular, unilateral moves have many American observers applauding.

US President Donald Trump meets with his national security team and is briefed via video teleconference after a missile strike on Syria, at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, on April 6. Photo: The White House via Reuters

But others looking at Trump’s actions can find cause for concern.

Many see the US president’s decision as an emotive reaction, his shock at seeing innocent victims, particularly “beautiful babies”, being killed. “One strike doesn’t make a strategy,” former US defence secretary William Cohen was quoted as saying. There are questions of how effective the US strikes were, especially with no indication of any follow-up.

Trump’s latest actions relate to ... ensuring the US is respected and even feared ... and is free to act unilaterally