Trump faces tough Asia-Pacific challenge

After Donald Trump is sworn in as the president of the United States on Jan 20, the biggest foreign policy challenge for his new administration will be how to deal with the fast-developing situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

The top priority of Trump, as such, will be to form a reliable team that can help retain the trust of the US' Asia-Pacific allies in the new administration. One of the ugliest election campaigns in US history has left American democracy badly bruised. Therefore, Trump has to move quickly to announce his foreign security policy team to offer some assurance to the American people as well as the international community about the workability of its domestic and global policies.

Besides, since Trump, during his election campaign, threatened to reduce, if not end the US' defense commitments toward its Asia-Pacific allies such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, he either has to pay early visits to those countries or explain that there will be no change in his administration's Asia-Pacific policy to reassure them of continued US support.