Under Trump, America's influence in western Pacific may be on the decline
WASHINGTON - For years, China has trumpeted the decline of the United States as a Pacific power.
A rising force, now the world's second-largest economy, China predicted that America's decline would be slow and inevitable, the ebbing of one global power and the ascent of another.
But that process may be accelerating as President Donald Trump wobbles on long-standing commitments to Japan and South Korea, and calls for shrinking the U.S. military presence in the region - even as China is flexing its economic, military and political muscle from Sri Lanka to the South China Sea.
Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis, who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in Beijing, emphasized U.S. concerns about China's growing militarization of scattered islands and shoals in the South China Sea. Other nations also claim the islands, and the maritime and territorial disputes with Beijing have roiled the region.
