US Election 2024

China’s Xi Jinping says superpowers must ‘get along’, while Indonesia’s Prabowo lauds ‘immense potential’ of US ties.

Taipei, Taiwan – Asia Pacific leaders have moved to shore up ties with Donald Trump following his re-election as president of the United States, even as questions swirl about what his return to power will mean for regional security.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters he was looking forward to working closely with the president-elect and to “bring the Japan-US alliance and the Japan-US relations to a higher level”.

On social media, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also spoke of their hope for a stronger alliance with the US and a “brighter future”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also turned to social media to say that Australia and the US were “great friends and great allies” going into the future, while Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto posted about the strong strategic partnership between Washington and Jakarta.

Even Chinese President Xi Jinping had positive words for Trump, despite the latter’s campaign promise of hitting China with punishing import tariffs over unfair business practices. Xi said he believed the US and China could find the “right way to get along”.

Beyond the well-wishes, however, leaders in Asia were likely worrying about what the return of Trump’s unpredictability will mean for regional security.

For more than seven decades, the US has acted as a security guarantor for the governments of Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Thailand is also a longtime military ally of the US since signing up to a collective defence treaty in 1954.

The rise of a more muscular China has brought those