U.S.’s Asian allies want a Trump-Xi truce — but not at their expense

America’s Asian allies want U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. They don’t want that stability to come at their expense.

Ahead of Thursday’s summit in Washington, the U.S. joined Japan and South Korea in reaffirming its “ironclad” defense commitments to both countries and opposing unilateral attempts to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

The statement came amid concerns that Trump could soften Washington’s position on Taiwan or other regional security issues in return for concessions from Beijing on trade, or assistance over the war with Iran.

“In general, U.S. allies and partners in the region do not want to see a breakthrough in U.S.-China relations that harms their national interests, but they also want to guard against a breakdown in U.S.-China ties that raises the risk of conflict in the region,” said Jeremy Chan, senior analyst for China and Northeast Asia at Eurasia Group.

Taiwan and U.S. credibility

Taiwan will be a notable flashpoint between the two sides, although it is not clear if the island will be part of discussions.

China has repeatedly demanded that the U.S. end arms sales to the democratically governed island, which Beijing considers part of its territory.

Trump postponed a planned $14 billion arms package for Taiwan following his previous summit with Xi in May and described arms sales as a negotiating tool in Washington’s relationship with Beijing, according to the Associated Press.

Ahead of this week’s meeting, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it remained in close contact with Washington to ensure that arms sales proceeded as planned.

“Japan and the Philippines fear that Trump could soften U.S. support for Taiwan in return for economic concessions from China or Beijing’s assistance in ending the war with Iran,” Jeremy Chan, senior analyst for China and Northeast Asia told CNBC.

Both Manila and Tokyo have had testy relationships with Beijing, with the Philippines clashing with China over its incursions into disputed waters in the South China Sea and Japan facing a chill in the bilateral relationship after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signaled last year that any Chinese invasion of Taiwan could trigger the involvement of Japan’s Self Defense Forces.

Chan’s view is echoed by Derek Grossman, founder of consulting firm Indo-Pacific Solutions in an August interview.

Grossman said that as the Iran war dragged on, Washington started to divert weapons and munitions from the Asia-Pacific region to sustain the war against…