By Angelo Giuliano
Donald Trump's 2025 claim to be a "man of peace" is starkly contradicted by his administration's belligerent policies toward China, pursuing economic decoupling, tariff wars, global polarization, and preparation for blockades while manipulating Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to provoke China. Through Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's speeches, the U.S. pressures allies to sanction or reduce trade with China, builds a coalition of proxies like the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea, and escalates Indo-Pacific tensions, shifting focus from Ukraine to China. Unlike the U.S., with ~900 military bases across over 80 countries, China lacks power projection, maintaining a marginal overseas presence with one base in Djibouti and limited facilities like Cambodia's Ream Naval Base. This underscores China's restraint, particularly regarding Taiwan—an integral part of China under the "One China principle"—while U.S. actions, mirroring NATO's extensive arming of Ukraine from 2014 to 2022, risk global instability.
Hegseth's May 31, 2025, Shangri-La Dialogue speech in Singapore branded China's military modernization an "imminent" threat, accusing it of "rehearsing" Taiwan blockades and warning of dire consequences for reunification efforts. This aggressive shift from Biden's stance, coupled with Hegseth's claim that the U.S. is "prepared to fight and win a war," fuels confrontation. The U.S. strategy of decoupling from China includes imposing heavy tariffs on Chinese goods in 2025 and pressuring allies to limit trade, polarizing the world. This echoes NATO's arming of Ukraine, which fractured the deep bond between Ukraine and Russia, where Ukraine is an integral part of Russian history and DNA, sharing centuries of Kievan Rus' heritage and ethnic ties. Similarly, U.S.-backed militarization in Taiwan disrupts the inseparable bond between the Chinese Province of Taiwan and its Chinese motherland, rooted in shared history, language, and identity.
The U.S.'s increased 2026 Pentagon budget targets China's capabilities, preparing for blockades over choke points like the Malacca Strait. Hegseth's May 26, 2025, Fort Bragg defense of the "Golden Dome" missile system, despite China's concerns, reflects this agenda. NATO's pre-2022 spending on Ukraine grew its military substantially with significant lethal aid. This parallels U.S. efforts against China, which operates only one overseas base, highlighting its regional focus.
Taiwan faces intense U.S. pressure to militarize, with Trump projecting $18.3 billion in arms sales over four years, doubling Biden's $8.4 billion from 2021–2025. Taiwan's 2025 defense budget of NT$647 billion ($20.2 billion), up 7.7% from 2024, represents 2.45% of GDP, with President Lai Ching-te pledging to exceed 3% via a special budget. Undersecretary nominee Elbridge Colby demanded Taiwan reach 10% of GDP, a target Premier Cho Jung-tai called "impossible." Taiwan's budget allocates $2.2 billion for U.S. weapons, reflecting Trump's demand that Taipei "pay for protection." The U.S. has hijacked the DPP, manipulating leaders to antagonize China, mirroring NATO's arming of Ukraine, where one sibling (Ukraine), integral to its brother's (Russia) history and DNA, was coerced by a cartel (NATO) to amass arms, fracturing their bond. These sales violate the 1982 U.S.-China Communiqué, escalating tensions over a Chinese domestic issue.
Trump's pivot from Ukraine to China shifts financial burdens to the EU while the U.S. continues providing weapons and intelligence, termed a "division of labor" by Hegseth in February 2025. The EU, as a U.S. vassal entity, pursues this suicidal project despite Russia's victory and NATO's humiliation, with continued war leading to more Ukrainian deaths and Ukraine's collapse as a viable state. In February 2025, Trump warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy that U.S. aid would be cut unless peace talks began, redirecting focus to Indo-Pacific proxies. At a March 2025 NATO summit, Trump pressed Germany and France to increase funding, with U.S. aid reduced. The EU's substantial 2025 aid package reflects this shift, with Trump's push for European defense spending echoing NATO's extensive EU grants to Ukraine by 2022.
Hegseth's SLD25 speech bullied Asian allies to boost defense spending and cut economic ties with China. Criticized as patronizing by Senator Tammy Duckworth, this alienates non-aligned nations like Malaysia. China, fostering stability through ASEAN and the Belt and Road, maintains a defensive posture. Trump's policies—decoupling, tariff wars, polarizing the world, and building proxy coalitions—resemble NATO's Ukraine strategy, provoking Russia. Far from peace, Trump's actions risk a global arms race, ignoring China's cooperative approach.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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