much less do anything about it. The man's a bluffer, and his followers will not take kindly to the fact that despite his tough talk, he's not going to do anything about it. He's what the Chinese call a "paper tiger".

There's a reason the Chinese are fortifying all those islands and reefs in the S China Sea; to provide maritime bases supported by land-based sea and air power to challenge the US 7th fleet, which is over-committed and stretched too thin in that part of the world. Have you been following how the recent accidents and collisions of US destroyers in the Pacific is evidence of severe lapses in training and maintenance of our forces in the area?

Obama was trying to bolster our defenses and presence in that area with trade and military diplomacy, including negotiating with the Vietnamese to re-open our Navy base at Cam Ranh Bay. But Mr Trump has been too busy pushing his trade paranoia in that part of the world and has only succeeded in alienating all our allies there.

I don't think the troubles in Korea and in the S China Sea are connected, but whatever eventually happens there, the Chinese will have a lot more options than we will.