Trump is ceding power to China at an 'alarming rate:' security expert

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026.

Amid President Donald Trump’s high-profile summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which the two leaders will address wide-ranging diplomatic, economic, and global concerns, a leading security expert warns that "the US is now losing power to China at an alarming rate."

A senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and the China-Global South Project, Derek Grossman cites two key examples of Beijing's ascension and Washington's weakening: diplomatic efforts in Iran and Southeast Asia.

He points to countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar, important regional players — or in the cases of Thailand and Vietnam, increasingly prominent international partners — which have received prominent state visits from Chinese representatives as of late, including Xi, while Trump has made only a single visit to Malaysia during his second term and his Secretary of State has failed to go at all.

“Why does this matter?” As Grossman explains, “Because showing up in Southeast Asia is more than half the battle when it comes to waging and winning the competition for influence. Washington, thus far, has shown relative disinterest in sustained high-level engagement, undermining its ability to compete with China. Without routine engagement, Southeast Asian countries become uneasy about U.S. commitments and tend to look elsewhere — such as to China — to fulfill their needs.”

Trump’s tariffs have also proven to be a problem in the region. Vietnam has been angered by drawing some of the president’s highest tariff rates following years of strengthening bilateral ties — a bond Trump endangered at the stroke of a pen — and while he struck a deal with Malaysia last year, that country has since declared the agreement “null and void.” At the same time, China “has positioned itself as a more stable and predictable actor.”

Meanwhile, “Trump’s war in Iran and the resulting disruption to commodity flows through the Strait of Hormuz have also dealt a heavy blow to Southeast Asian economies. The Philippines has been forced to take particularly stark measures in response, declaring a national emergency and reducing its work week to conserve fuel. The crisis reinforces a perception that Washington is distracted and unable to stabilize global conditions when it matters most. And the region is responding: Thailand’s foreign minister recently lamented that its longstanding security ally, the United States, has done nothing to support its economy amid the fallout of the Iran war.”

And in Iran, Beijing sees a major opportunity to position itself as a global dealmaker while Trump flails.

In a Wednesday report by the Washington Post, it was revealed that U.S. intelligence suggests China has gained a “major edge” on the U.S. due to the war with Iran. Over the course of the war, China has assisted countries around the world with their energy needs as the U.S.-initiated conflict has disrupted supplies, and the Chinese have also made a fortune selling weapons to American Gulf allies desperate for defense against Iranian retaliation. At the same time, stockpiles of American weapons that would otherwise be earmarked for potential conflict with China have been badly depleted, and on top of that, Beijing has leveraged the conflict to “undermine the image of the U.S. as a responsible steward of the rules-based international order.”

Citing recent reports that Chinese and American officials “agree” that the Strait of Hormuz should not be militarized, with the latest reporting revealing that Trump has sought Xi’s “help” at reopening the vital waterway, Grossman asserts that the situation represents a major power shift.

“If China brokers a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, then that will be the clearest sign yet that Beijing's power is on the rise while Washington's is on the decline,” said Grossman. “It's a strong possibility.”

“The whole world can clearly see it happening,” said one commenter. “But the Americans seem to be in denial mode."

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