SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And President Trump is heading to Asia for a six-day diplomatic tour of the region. Among the leaders he's expected to meet is, of course, China's president, Xi Jinping. Relations remain fraught between the two countries over the deepening trade war. We're joined now by NPR's Anthony Kuhn in South Korea. Anthony, thanks so much for being with us.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: My pleasure, Scott.
SIMON: Give us a sense of what's on the agenda.
KUHN: Well, President Trump's itinerary centers on two summits, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in South Korea. But President Trump is more focused on bilateral meetings, and there's some criticism in the reading - in the region that ASEAN and APEC are multilateral forums. They're promoting regional integration and free trade, while the U.S. seems to be focused on great power competition and trade protectionism. President Trump wants to preside over a Thai Cambodian ceasefire deal, apparently to burnish his peacemaker image, which has led to some criticism in the region that Trump is more focused on himself than Southeast Asia. There's certainly no shortage of conflicts that he could try to end, such as Myanmar's brutal civil war, but he doesn't seem interested in that one.
SIMON: President is expected to meet, as we mentioned, his Chinese counterpart. How do you believe he'll handle that meeting?
KUHN: Well, it's tough. Trade tensions have flared and both sides are trying to pressure the other one with tariffs and export controls. U.S. and Chinese trade officials are meeting in Kuala Lumpur to try to deescalate that. If the talks fall through, a Xi Jinping-Trump meeting might not even happen, and the Chinese side has not confirmed that there will be this meeting. I spoke to Zhu Feng, who is dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing University. Here's what he told me.
ZHU FENG: (Speaking Mandarin).
KUHN: "If the negotiations in Malaysia get no results," he told me, "then the resulting U.S.-China split will be very worrying." He adds that China has already endured unendurable treatment from the U.S., and it's got to push back to show that it will not be cornered by the U.S.
SIMON: President Trump is also known for his skepticism toward allies as well. What can we expect from meetings with countries that include Japan and South Korea?
KUHN: Well, President Trump will meet in Japan with the country's new female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, and in South Korea with President Lee Jae Myung. And the U.S. has gotten both of these allies to pledge a combined nearly $1 trillion in investment in the U.S. in exchange for lower tariffs, but there are still differences, such as how much of that is paid upfront in cash. And if the allies aren't happy with the details, they could try to negotiate. If the U.S. isn't happy with that, it could reimpose tariffs. Both Seoul and Tokyo are under pressure from the U.S. to pay more for military protection and to help the U.S. confront China. President Trump said on the way to Malaysia that he is open to meeting with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, but apparently, there are no plans for that to happen so far.
SIMON: This is President Trump's first trip to Asia in his second term. Anthony, what can we say about President Trump's Asia policy?
KUHN: Well, previous administrations, especially President Obama's, have said they want to try to focus their attention on Asia. Trump has not. He has been mostly focused on conflicts in Europe and the Middle East. There is a central disagreement within the administration between maintaining U.S. primacy in Asia or putting America first by minding its own hemisphere, and that has aggravated fears among many nations that the U.S. will either drag its allies into unnecessary conflicts or become isolationist and just abandon them.
SIMON: NPR's Anthony Kuhn joining us from Seoul, South Korea. Anthony, thanks so much.
KUHN: My pleasure, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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