US allies in Asia wary as Trump moves military assets for Iran war

United States allies in Asia are watching warily as Washington scales back some military assets in the region to meet demands in the Middle East, where the US-Israel war on Iran is dragging into its sixth month.

Key points

• The US 2026 National Defense Strategy calls for rose "burden-sharing with allies and partners around the world" to counter threats from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran.
• South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan have rapidly moved to ramp up their defence spending, with Taipei this week announcing it aimed to boost defence spending in 2027 by 18 percent.
• "These maritime operations are aimed at Taipei, aimed at Manila, aimed at Tokyo, " Yang informed Al Jazeera.
• While the last US aircraft carrier has left the area – for now – the Chinese fleet has increasingly ventured beyond the First Island Chain.
• Taiwanese and Japanese security experts additionally informed Al Jazeera they projected US interest – along with its aircraft carriers – to ultimately return to Asia.

Meanwhile, the latest point of tension came this week as the US moved its last aircraft carrier in Asia – the USS George Washington – from Japan to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln. It has been deployed for nine months at a stretch. While broken toilets and showers contributed to unsanitary conditions and poor health, multiple reports had suggested that there were food shortages on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Reports suggested that at least one sailor tried to jump off board.

As well as other reports that the US has drawn down its missile and munitions stockpiles to keep the war going, the news of the USS George Washington's move away from the Asia Pacific region follows reports earlier this year that the US had moved parts of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system from South Korea to employ against Iran.

Taken together, they dent US power projection in Asia and its ability to counter threats from China, remarked William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group.

"If we look at this as part of a larger trend. It certainly is creating an impact on the overall effectiveness of the US-led regional deterrence against China, " Yang remarked concerning the deployment of the USS George Washington.

While the last US aircraft carrier has left the area – for now – the Chinese fleet has increasingly ventured beyond the First Island Chain. It runs from north of Japan through Taiwan and the northern Philippines to Borneo.

Meanwhile, the Cold War defensive line was originally designed to contain Beijing, but it has lately done little to keep China's Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carriers from moving into the Western Pacific.

In another concerning development for US allies, Chinese coastguard activity has picked up since June in the waters east of Taiwan. It overlap with Japan's and the Philippines' exclusive economic zones, Yang remarked.

"These maritime operations are aimed at Taipei, aimed at Manila, aimed at Tokyo, " Yang informed Al Jazeera. "Part of it is also testing the US reaction to these operations and the US capability to respond."

Ja Ian Chong, a political scientist and security expert at the National University of Singapore, informed Al Jazeera that US allies may worry that China will become even more emboldened as the US shifts military assets westward.

"I think US allies and partners may wonder if the move gives more confidence to test and push. That could in turn put more pressure on them, " he informed Al Jazeera.

Although US allies could still take comfort in the fact that the lion's share of US forces remain in the region, chong remarked the aircraft carrier's redeployment has reduced some US operational flexibility.

In practice, the Asia Pacific region hosts regarding 375, 000 US military and civilian personnel assigned to the US Pacific Command, tens of thousands of whom are stationed in South Korea and Japan.

Chong saw the redeployment as more symbolic of shifts in the US strategy towards Asia. It under Trump sees regional allies as taking the leading role in their own defence, albeit with US backing.

Notably, the US 2026 National Defense Strategy calls for rose "burden-sharing with allies and partners around the world" to counter threats from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran.

In practice, the strategy additionally calls for allies in Europe and Asia to raise military spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and security-related spending to 1.5 percent of GDP by the 2030s.

As Manila has additionally moved to deepen its security cooperation with Tokyo and, more quietly, with Taipei, philippines Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr last month pressed defence spending to rise to 4 percent of GDP to counter China.

According to Chong, going forward, he anticipated to see this trend deepen as Asia navigates its way forward.

"US allies and partners have already been increasing their spending and ability to work with less US backing. This most recent development may further spur this trend. US allies and partners are additionally looking for ways to work with each other more, along with building their organic capabilities, " he stated.

Kei Koga, an expert in East Asian security and the US-Japan alliance at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, remarked deploying military assets to the Middle East was "concerning from a short-term perspective" but did not see the move as "evidence of a longer-term US strategic disengagement from the region".

As key assets like US Amphibious Ready Groups – which can host F-35B stealth fighters and smaller aircraft – remain in the region even as the USS George Washington has moved, k Tristan Tang, a non-resident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research, took a similar view.

Tang additionally informed Al Jazeera that even with the Iran war dragging on, he did not think Trump would forget regarding the world's second-largest superpower.

"Deep down in President Trump's mind, the most important thing will still be US economic interests and the economic issue with China, " he remarked. "China is still the most important thing."

In short, US allies in Asia wary as Trump moves military assets for Iran is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.