Tomahawk Fired in Philippines as Trump Heads to China
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- The US and Japan fired a Tomahawk missile via Typhon launcher alongside ship-sinking Type 88 missiles from the Philippines during Balikatan drills, described as a first and, from Beijing's view, a provocation.
- Taiwan's legislature approved $25 billion in special funding for weapons purchases, breaking months of deadlock as Washington presses the White House to accelerate sales and deliveries.
- Japan signed a defense cooperation agreement with Indonesia, coming on the heels of loosened arms-export restrictions.
- Trump headed to China to meet Xi Jinping, with American business leaders including Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Boeing's Kelly Ortberg, and GE Aerospace's Larry Culp reportedly on the guest list, and the agenda spanning AI, nukes, agriculture, and economic stability.
- China's foreign affairs ministry called Japan's rearmament a "gray rhino charging towards peace and order," expressing dissatisfaction with the broader regional military activity.
- The Trump administration is shifting firepower away from the Indo-Pacific and toward the Western Hemisphere and Middle East, at least temporarily, per Axios analysis.
- Christine Wormuth, president of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and former US Army secretary, told Axios that what Trump and Xi do or do not say about Taiwan will be the issue to watch — even subtlest changes in syntax will be obsessed over.
Why it matters: The two-week convergence of a first-ever Tomahawk launch from the Philippines, Taiwan's $25B weapons authorization, and a Japan-Indonesia defense pact is colliding with Trump's pursuit of economic detente in Beijing — what the two leaders say about Taiwan will signal whether the US is reinforcing or undercutting the very allies now accelerating their own buildup.
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