TOKYO - Chinese President Xi Jinping has been "effective" in impacting the way U.S. President Donald Trump views the world including Taiwan, and is trying to drive a wedge between Japan and the United States, according to former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
Speaking following the Sept. 24 U.S.-China summit, Campbell, chairman of geopolitical consulting firm The Asia Group, said Monday in Tokyo that Xi's attempt to imprint his view on Trump, as seen by Trump referring to the two countries as past "allies" who fought together in World War II, is "concerning."
Campbell said in a group interview that during Trump's first term between 2017 and 2021, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sat down repeatedly with the U.S. president to make the argument about why allies and partners were important.
But in his second presidency, "the only leader this time around that is really taking the time to try to imprint on President Trump how to think about a complex set of issues is President Xi, and he's been incredibly effective," Campbell said.
Xi is "trying to drive a wedge" into Washington's relationship with Tokyo and the evidence of that is quite clear with the WWII allies reference, he said.
The Chinese president has also seen "some success" in trying to reduce the belief in Taiwan that Trump has its back, as seen in how Trump addresses the self-ruled island, including a hiatus in terms of arms sales with Taiwan and the suspension of many of the dialogs between the United States and Taiwan.
"There are unmistakable hints of Chinese approaches and propaganda, and that is largely due to the sustained interactions that he's had with President Xi," Campbell said.
The two leaders are expected to meet again in China where the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit will be held in November.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is also likely to attend the APEC meet, but Campbell predicts that she would be in a "very delicate position" as her Taiwan-related remarks last year infuriated Beijing and significantly worsened bilateral ties.
China "will seek to isolate her and make it seem like she's an outlier. And at the same time, I think President Xi will try to re-embrace President Trump," Campbell said.
"If I were (Takaichi) and I were thinking about developing an agenda, I would make sure I was launching new initiatives with India, with other countries at APEC to underscore that Japan plays a central role in the security, the architecture of Asia as a whole," he said.
Campbell also said he does not believe China's narrative about Japan's military aggression is finding a lot of traction in other parts of Asia, as everyone looks at what China has done as the largest military buildup in history.
"I don't think much of Asia is somehow persuaded that a very modest rearmament in Japan somehow equates to the 1930s and early 1940s" and that "a few developments on the part of Japan is somehow deeply strategically destabilizing because it's not," he said.
Campbell served as deputy secretary of state under U.S. President Joe Biden from 2024 to 2025. He was also assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs under U.S. President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013.
