Expert warns about China's wedge strategy

Expert warns about China's wedge strategy

Former US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has warned about Beijing's intentions, saying it is trying to undermine ties between Washington and Tokyo.

Campbell, who served during the Biden administration, spoke to NHK on Monday in Tokyo, and gave his analysis about last week's summit between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Washington.

Campbell said Xi is seeking to convince Trump to accept China's "worldview."

He said: "They are trying to do two things simultaneously. The first is to destroy the floor in the US relationship with Taiwan. I think President Xi hammers away, is consistent about, insisting that the United States and President Trump basically take heed of how China sees this set of issues."

Campbell also said Xi is seeking to "drive a wedge" between the US and Japan, and he pointed to Trump repeating Beijing's version of wartime history.

He said: "I thought that the way President Trump, both in public and in the official documents, indicated that the United States and China were allies during the second World War really reflects Chinese views about how to effectively manipulate the United States. The Communist Party was not an ally of the United States during the second World War."

He said the future of Japan-US cooperation will be shaped by collaborating on artificial intelligence. He said Tokyo needs to "get more in the game" with the US on AI, and they need to talk more about AI, chips and munitions.