Trump’s outreach to North Korea and reduced U.S.-South

president's abrupt decision to cut back military exercises with South Korea last week, which he described as hostile to Pyongyang, has reinforced fears that Trump's unpredictability could ‌strain alliances that have long maintained peace in the region, government officials and security experts said.

Japan worries it too could find itself in Trump's cross-hairs as it embarks on thorny security negotiations; Taiwan is warily watching an upcoming summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping; and India is growing less certain of its place in Washington's strategic calculus. "The decision will certainly fuel growing doubts in the region about U.S.

and South Korean officials. 'EXTREMELY TROUBLING' FOR TOKYOBut Trump's push to meet Kim - which has so far drawn a frosty ​response from Pyongyang - could backfire and embolden nuclear-armed North Korea, said Itsunori Onodera, an influential Japanese lawmaker and former defence minister. Such a prospect is "extremely troubling" for Tokyo, he said on a Fuji TV news programme last Thursday.

Despite Trump's overtures, ​Pyongyang fired a volley of ballistic missiles off its east coast earlier that day, triggering alerts in neighbouring South Korea and Japan. What worries Japanese officials more is Trump's approach as Tokyo embarks on talks with Washington over how much it should pay towards the cost of hosting U.S.

forces, America's largest overseas deployment. Japan is bracing for the possibility that Trump could, with little warning, demand a sharp hike that would be politically difficult to swallow, said a senior Japanese government official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. Trump ​could also wield upcoming U.S.

deterrence against China is being eroded. During a visit to Asia this month, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby said working with allies to ensure combat readiness along the so-called first island chain that runs from Japan through the Philippines is a priority for Washington.

TRUMP, XI AND TAIWANNowhere are concerns about China's growing military pressure more acute than in Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing. Trump has held up approval of a $14 billion package of arms sales to Taipei in order to maintain warm relations and a fragile trade truce with China's Xi.

As Trump prepares for his latest round of summitry with Xi ​in Washington next month, officials in Taipei say they ​expect Washington will at the very least carve up ⁠the arms sales into smaller chunks to try and avoid upsetting Beijing too much.

Domingo Yang of the Taiwan defence ministry's think tank, the Institute for National Defence and Security Research, says there is a distinction between Trump's rhetoric and actual U.S.

risks squandering ⁠years of efforts to draw New Delhi closer as a counterweight to Russia and China, security analysts say. It also comes after the Pentagon's decision in June to rename its Asia military headquarters to Pacific Command from Indo-Pacific Command, a move some analysts say is a sign India is no longer as strategically important to Washington. The Pentagon denied any such shift.

Officials ⁠there are now "very, ​very cautious" about committing to long-term defence deals with Washington, knowledge of the matter. "The latest decision ​only reinforces President Trump's transactional view of foreign affairs and serves as a reminder that differences over specific policies, even among allies, can carry costs for the broader bilateral relationship," said Pearl Pandya, senior analyst at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a conflict monitoring group.