Harvard Asia Center Panel Discusses Asia Relations Under President Trump

Washington Post Analyst Josh Rogin called Trump’s Asian foreign policy “chaotic” and “contradictory” during a panel discussion on Thursday hosted by the Harvard Asia Center.

The event, which featured several prominent journalists, focused on the impacts of a second Trump administration on the relationship between the United States and Asia.

In an interview with The Crimson after the panel, Rogin said that despite Trump’s attempt at a major trade deal with China, the administration has failed to provide a solid plan for diplomacy.

“I think we’re going to have a period of engagement with China, where Trump and Xi Jinping are going to try to make nice and have the countries be friends,” Rogin said. “Then I think that engagement will likely fail, and at which point we’ll have a competition veering towards a confrontation.”

Edward Wong, a New York Times Diplomatic Correspondent who also spoke on the panel, wrote in a statement after the event that Asia-focused diplomacy has been deprioritized during Trump’s second administration, as compared to his first.

“So far, Trump has focused most of his foreign policy efforts on Europe and the Middle East, and Asia is more of a question mark,” Wong wrote. “But he has said he would like to have China and the U.S. invest in each other’s countries, and also says constantly that he and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, have a good relationship.”

During the event, Wong discussed a cabinet meeting he attended, in which Trump declined to comment on whether the U.S. would take action if Chinese President Xi Jinping were to forcibly try to take Taiwan. This reflects a change in U.S. policy on the issue, according to Wong, as former President Biden stated that he would send troops to aid Taiwan against an imperialist China.

“As with Putin, I think he will try to engage in personal diplomacy with Xi and forge commercial or trade agreements.” Wong wrote. “This could make allies in the region, and especially Taiwan, nervous.”

The panel then discussed the impact of billionaires like Elon Musk on the Trump administration and foreign affairs. In the interview, Rogin called Trump’s new alliances within the finance and tech industry a “broligarchy.”

“We have more billionaires and real estate barons in the top levels of the U.S. government than ever before, and more and more cabinet officials are being marginalized and Trump’s friends are being promoted,” Rogin said.

With Musk’s high level of influence over the Trump administration, it is important to understand how Musk might impact future U.S.-Asia relations according to Wong.

“Elon Musk appears to have a favorable opinion of China and the ruling Communist Party, and he has business interests there. He has also said Taiwan should be a part of China.” Wong wrote. “It’ll be interesting to track what kind of influence he has on U.S.-China relations and on Trump’s China policy.”

Rogin said that Trump’s cabinet is “either too scared or impotent” to overrule any of Trump’s policies.

“For right now, we have a government and foreign policy by and for the billionaires,” he added.