- Title: Trump's Asian allies fear war could leave them vulnerable, analysts say
- Date: 3rd March 2026
- Summary: TAIPEI, TAIWAN (MARCH 2, 2026) (REUTERS) CHEN LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) LAWMAKER FOR TAIWAN'S RULING DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY (DPP), CHEN KUAN-TING, SAYING: "Over the past several decades, we have seen that many of the United States’ military assets and expenditures have basically been placed in the Middle East—from Afghanistan to Iraq, and then agai
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: China Iran Taiwan USA asia pacific conflict
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: Taiwan
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00A028103032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Analysts in Asia warn that diversion of Washington's ships and missiles from deterring China could leave a hole in the region's defences.
Those worries are most acute in Japan and South Korea, home to big U.S. military bases that help counter China's military flexing and nuclear-armed North Korea, and Taiwan, the democratic island claimed by Beijing and armed by Washington.
"We hope this operation is fast, limited, and that resources can be promptly shifted back to Asia," Chen Kuan-ting, a lawmaker in Taiwan who sits on parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, told Reuters on Monday (March 2).
A prolonged conflict could harm "stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific" Chen said, adding that Taipei must prepare for Beijing to step up "coercion" while the U.S. is distracted.
Trump has said the U.S. operation in the Middle East will last four or five weeks but could be sustained far longer. He is due to travel to China to meet with President Xi Jinping at month end, though Beijing has not confirmed the visit.
Aside from just shifting U.S. political focus from Asia, officials and military analysts say that a prolonged Middle East conflict may pull in U.S. naval assets from the region and deplete munitions Asian allies depend on.
Meanwhile, the only U.S. carrier deployed in Asia, the USS George Washington, is currently undergoing maintenance at its base in Yokosuka, Japan.
It was only three months ago, that Trump unveiled a new security strategy that framed the Indo-Pacific as the key "geopolitical battleground" and deterring a conflict over Taiwan a top priority.
Since then, he has captured the leader of Venezuela in an audacious military strike, threatened to annex Greenland and teamed up with Israel for an air war against Iran.
But while allies in Asia worry he may be taking his eye off the prize, some analysts say that Beijing, at least for now, has little to feel confident. In hitting Venezuela and Iran, Trump has weakened two allies of Beijing that have supplied streams of cheap oil that have buoyed the Chinese economy.
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