assertiveness

He also strengthened defence alliances across Asia and the Pacific to counter China's increasing assertiveness in the region.

But all eyes were on Chancay and what it says about China's growing assertiveness in a region that the US has traditionally seen as its sphere of influence.

He dangled his new assertiveness in 2020, on the eve of that year’s election, when he wrote, as the last line in Rage, “Donald Trump is the wrong man for the job.”

The leaders of the Quad group of nations - Japan, Australia, India and the US - said last week that they would expand cooperation on maritime security to counter China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea.

While the relationship between Beijing and Washington has improved in the past year, China's increasing assertiveness in the region remains a sticking point.