Asia| A scary new game
Asian allies fear being dumped by Trump
America’s friends in the Indo-Pacific live in dread of being abandoned like Ukraine
Chinese President Xi Jinping on a televsision screen in Taipei, Taiwan
Another grandmasterPhotograph: Getty Images
WHO WILL be next? As America abandons Ukraine and ignores European allies, its closest friends in Asia ask whether they too will be shaken down or cast aside. The worries grow deeper as China flexes its muscles. In recent weeks it has conducted naval live-fire exercises off Taiwan, in the Gulf of Tonkin and as far as the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. On February 25th, Taiwan detained a Chinese ship suspected of severing an undersea cable.