Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te pays a visit to Songshan airbase in Taipei on March 21, 2025. © Reuters
_Brian Hioe is a writer, editor, translator, activist and DJ based out of Taipei. He was one of the founders of New Bloom Magazine, an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region._
One of the clearest examples yet of how the Donald Trump administration has thrown relationships with Washington's traditional allies into question was the fiery exchange between America's leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office late last month. Another is Trump seemingly siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the conflict.