Trump and China loom over a tumultuous year in Asia
Posted December 28, 2018 6:00 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un staged an extraordinary summit in Singapore in June where they vowed to pursue a nuclear settlement.
But there's since been no substantial disarmament by the North, and many have the same old fears that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons.
As 2018 closes, the sense of unease in South Korea has been shared across Asia, where many are wondering how China and Trump, and a U.S.-China trade war that has caused fears of a global economic slowdown, will affect them.
China's increasing power has been impossible to ignore as it pushes its territorial claims and, despite some resistance, uses money and influence to promote its interests.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly waded into Asia's biggest hot spots.
In this Dec. 1, 2018, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, second right, and China's President Xi Jinping, second left, attend their bilateral meeting at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A U.S.-Chinese cease-fire on tariffs gives jittery companies a respite but does little to resolve a war over Beijing's technology ambitions that threaten to chill global economic growth. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
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In this April 28, 2018, file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. The leaders of China and India stressed the importance of close ties in talks Saturday, against the background of their rivalry for leadership in Asia and the potential for cooperation on economic and security matters. (Yan Yan/Xinhua via AP, File)
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This Monday, July 2, 2018, file photo released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, shows the boys and their soccer coach as they were found in a partially flooded cave, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai, Thailand. The 12 boys and coach found after 10 days are mostly in stable medical condition and have received high-protein liquid food, officials said Tuesday, though it is not known when they will be able to go home. (Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center via AP, File)
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In this Jan. 24, 2018, file photo, a Rohingya refugee boy who was staying in no-man's land at Bandarban between Myanmar and Bangladesh border, clings to his father after arriving at Balukhali refugee camp 50 kilometers (32 miles) from, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar say some of them had returned home several times over past decades, and they're in no mood to repatriate again. Although, Myanmar says it's ready for a gradual repatriation of Muslim Rohingya refugees chased out by the Buddhist-majority country's military. More than 680,000 Rohingya Muslims are now living in sprawling and squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
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In this Monday, Dec. 24, 2018, file photo, people inspect the damage at a tsunami-ravaged village in Sumur, Indonesia. Doctors are working to help survivors and rescuers are looking for more victims from a deadly tsunami that smashed into beachside buildings along an Indonesian strait. The waves that swept terrified people into the sea Saturday night followed an eruption on Anak Krakatau, one of the world's most infamous volcanic islands. (AP Photo/Fauzy Chaniago, File)
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In this Oct. 8, 2018, file photo, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, right, raises the hand of Malaysia's reform icon Anwar Ibrahim during a rally in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Anwar is contesting a by-election in Port Dickson, a southern coastal town after a lawmaker vacated the seat to make way for Anwar Ibrahim's political comeback. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)
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In this Feb. 21, 2018, file photo, Italy's Sofia Goggia competes in the women's downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Jeongseon, South Korea. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
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