China's Propaganda Coup And The Danger Of US Indecision

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And now, nations like South Korea are caught in a confusing middle ground. China's narrative partly holds water, because Washington's actions have been hard to defend.

This kind of strategic ambiguity opens the door for Beijing to offer a twisted form of clarity. When allies are unsure whether Washington is friend or foe, Beijing's message suddenly seems more reasonable, even when it's revisionist. Perception becomes power.

Eisenhower's lesson

Compare today's strategy with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's approach during the Cold War. Eisenhower understood the stakes of pushing vulnerable allies into economic crisis – and potentially, into the arms of totalitarian adversaries. Scholar William S. Borden wrote about it in his 1984 book The Pacific Alliance .

At a pivotal cabinet meeting on August 6, 1954, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles reminded his listeners that Japan in the 1930s had chosen the path of military expansion“to get control of their own markets and their own materials.” He argued that if the US offered tariff concessions, it could“keep Japan on our side”; otherwise,“Japan could very soon go bankrupt.” He urged every agency to support such concessions.

Eisenhower agreed, stating that“this kind of trade should not only be allowed but encouraged, particularly as far as Japan is concerned with the neighboring Red areas in Asia.” He warned,“We can't force them back beyond the point of no return. If we do, they will say 'To Hell with you' we'll go Communist.' That's what this is all about. We must hold Japan for the free world or we must go to war to keep it in the free world. This is a world problem. We have got to work on a broad front. We have got to do a considerable job of education.”

Acknowledging domestic economic concerns, Eisenhower added,“Don't let us let Japan reach a point where they want to invite the Kremlin into their country. Everything else fades into insignificance in the light of such a threat.”

The Eisenhower administration understood that economic sacrifice in the short term was a necessary investment in long-term American hegemony and geopolitical stability.

In contrast, the current tariff approach prioritizes short-term political optics over strategic unity. Worse, it risks undermining the very coalition needed to confront China's growing aggression.

If the US appears unreliable in its commitments, both allies and adversaries will begin planning for a world in which American leadership is conditional, temporary and transactional.

The trust gap

What allies are learning now is dangerous: that Washington might treat them the same as its rivals, with little warning or differentiation.