美国国家公共电台 NPR President Trump Is Going To Asia: What To Watch For At Each Stop

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

President Trump 1 is traveling to Asia this morning. And this likely will be the most consequential 2 trip of his presidency 3 so far. The threat from North Korea's nuclear program will be top of the mind for the president and Asian leaders he'll be meeting with. NPR's Scott Horsley is going to be accompanying the president on the trip, and he joins us.

Hey there, Scott.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE 4: Good morning, David.

GREENE: Let's just work through the itinerary 5 here. After a quick stop in Hawaii, where the president's going to visit Pearl Harbor, he continues on to Tokyo and then to Seoul - important places, obviously. What's on the agenda?

HORSLEY: Well, you said it. It's the North Korean nuclear threat. That's the looming 6 cloud on the horizon for this trip. You know, back in the campaign, Trump was sometimes critical of allies, like Japan and South Korea, suggesting they weren't contributing enough to their own defense 7 and that the U.S. taxpayer 8 was having to make up the difference. But since he's come into office, Trump has taken a more traditional stance. He has reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to protecting those allies, especially in the face of Kim Jong Un's nuclear threat.

So I think you can expect a fairly friendly visit in Tokyo. He's going to play a round of golf with his buddy 9 the prime minister, Shinzo Abe. And in South Korea, Trump is going to visit a newly expanded military base that the South Koreans mostly paid for. It's eventually going to house many of the 28,000 American troops on the peninsula. And it is just beyond the range of North Korea's conventional artillery 11.

GREENE: You hear - you say South Korea mostly paid for them. Might be something we could hear the president emphasizing.

HORSLEY: Burden-sharing is the phrase.

GREENE: Burden-sharing (laughter).

So then it's China. And what a moment - I mean, Chinese President Xi Jinping just solidified 12 his grip on power, which wasn't a surprise at all. But it seems, you know, very important that now he is, you know, very solidly running that country and such an important country when it comes to the United States.

HORSLEY: Yeah. You've got Xi's platform now enshrined in the party constitution. And meanwhile, you have President Trump suffering some of his lowest approval ratings of his time in office. He's just endured a tough week with his former campaign chairman indicted 13, news that a onetime foreign policy adviser 14 pled guilty to criminal charges.

Despite that somewhat unequal footing, though, Trump seems to get along well with President Xi. And his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, says while China has to do more to put the brakes on North Korea's nuclear program, the U.S. is actually pretty pleased with the steps China's taken so far.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

H.R. MCMASTER: China recognizes this isn't the United States or anyone else asking China to do us a favor. China recognizes that it is clearly in China's interests - and all nations' interests - to denuclearize the peninsula.

HORSLEY: China is North Korea's No. 1 trading partner. And the U.S. believes Beijing has considerable economic leverage 15 that it could use against Kim Jong Un.

GREENE: Well, Scott - stylistically, I mean - you mentioned that Trump gets along well with Xi. When he goes on then to Vietnam and the Philippines, it's going to be more of these international summit meetings. Those are forums 16 that the president doesn't like as much. Right?

HORSLEY: He prefers to negotiate with other countries one on one rather than these big, multilateral settings. But in Vietnam, he's going to be attending the APEC summit. That's a gathering 17 of countries from around the Pacific Rim 10, many of which were party to that big trade deal that Trump pulled out of on one of his first days in office. Some of those other countries will be trying to revive that trade deal minus the U.S.

And then it's on to the Philippines, where Trump's going to be attending a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders and also meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, of course, has been criticized by a lot of human rights groups internationally for his extracurricular - extra - extralegal crackdown on drug traffickers. But the White House says Trump and he have a warm rapport 18.

GREENE: And you're going on this trip. Right?

HORSLEY: I'll be on the way.

GREENE: All right, safe travels to you. NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley - thanks, Scott.

HORSLEY: Good to be with you, David.