“The Chinese don’t like North Korea’s nuclear program, but the current situation does serve their longer-term interests in eroding American leadership, because it provides a whole new set of circumstances in which America shows its weakness,” said Hugh White, a former senior defense strategist in the Australian government.
Mr. Trump’s threat has particularly unsettled America’s main Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, adversaries and neighbors of North Korea that have increasingly vocal lobbies for acquiring their own nuclear weapons to counter Pyongyang’s.
China and Japan are far from being close. But China is trying to improve its relations with South Korea, and it sees opportunity there as Mr. Trump threatens pre-emptive action against North Korea, which would…
