Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US military has begun to upgrade its operations in Japan to a new “war-fighting” command, highlighting the Trump administration’s focus on China as its primary security challenge.
Until you consider the fact that he’s taking orders from Russia. When you consider all of his actions under the filter of “would a Russian asset do these things” they all make perfect sense.
In a normal political environment I'd say this is a normal part of the games China & the US have been playing in Asia for a long time, and actually a good thing, considering how China postures around Taiwan.
But as things stand with the US now, this seems like just one more contradiction, and unclear motivation.