Illustration: Dionne Gain The Pentagon had coordinated a major display of US military might to coincide with Trump's visit to Asia. Three US aircraft carrier battle groups converged on the Korean Peninsula on Monday in an obvious effort to awe and intimidate Kim. Then Trump called him short and fat. Which rather spoiled the effect. So it's hardly surprising that the region's governments, while outwardly courteous to the American President, refused to take him seriously. For instance, when Trump offered to mediate the dispute between China and its south-east Asian neighbours over their clashing territorial claims in the South China Sea. "If I can help mediate or arbitrate, please let me know," Trump told Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang​ in Hanoi. "I am a very good mediator." In another time, such an offer from a US president would have been taken very seriously. No longer.

US President Donald Trump, center, reacts as he does the "ASEAN-way handshake" with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, left, and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte during the opening ceremony of the ASEAN summit in Manila, Philippines. Credit:Andrew Harnik Vietnam ignored the offer. Within hours China and Vietnam announced they had reached a "consensus" on handling the disputed waters. Their leaders had agreed on a proposal to allow "joint development and jointly strive to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea," China's official Xinhua news agency said. So did the Philippines. In brushing aside the Trump offer, Philippine Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano​ buttered him up outrageously. "We thank him for it," he said. "He is the master of the art of the deal." Cue guffaws across the capitals of the world. Donald Trump, left, talks with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during the gala dinner marking ASEAN's 50th anniversary. Credit:AP Instead, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte​ said he had discussed the dispute with China's President Xi Jinping on Saturday. Duterte told reporters: "He assured us again: 'Do not worry, you have all the rights of safe passage. That will also be applicable to all countries'."

Duterte said he would "not touch" the dispute in the larger leaders meetings he was to host, which is exactly as the Chinese like it. US President Donald Trump speaks at the APEC CEO summit in Da Nang, Vietnam. Credit:Bloomberg In a further sign of China's ascendancy, it has reached agreement with the larger group of all 10 south-east Asian countries of ASEAN that Beijing will soon be ready to discuss a code of conduct for the disputed zone. The Chinese first agreed to such a code a decade ago, then successfully stalled while they took disputed marine territory by force, built islands and installed runways and military facilities. Now China has agreed that it'll be ready to start negotiations "sometime next year" and, at China's insistence, any agreement will not be legally binding, according to a Philippines government spokesman.

The US has been sidelined in all of this. Which has been tremendously valuable to China. Without credible US backing, the ASEAN nations are much weakened, with no great power to turn to, while totally overmatched by China. Without a reliable US to provide some backbone, South-east Asia is turning to jelly. "And who could blame them?" says ANU south-east Asia expert, Nicholas Farrelly. "So the Chinese come in, they look rational and coherent and they're providing an alternative to the chaos coming out of the US." The Chinese, says Farrelly, are "playing the ASEANs like a fiddle". Australia, in the meantime, is acting on its own interests and getting on with regional affairs without waiting for any lead from Washington. Malcolm Turnbull's visit to Manila's military headquarters in Aguinaldo​ on Monday showcased an Australian initiative to put some backbone into the Philippines in its fight against Daesh, or the so-called Islamic State. Daesh's easy conquest of the Philippines city of Marawi earlier this year deeply alarmed governments across the region. Australia, to its credit, acted swiftly. By supplying P-3 Orion spy planes during the Marawi crisis, Australia played a key part at a vital moment.



Defence Minister Marise Payne says that her Philippines counterpart, Delfin Lorenzana​, "assured me on a number of occasions that the value of the vision provided by the P-3s was pivotal to their effort in Marawi," which defeated the Daesh insurgency after five months of fighting. Now some 80 Australian troops are providing training to Philippines forces in urban warfare, which turned out to be a deficiency in their fight in Marawi. Turnbull visited this training exercise on Monday to affirm Australia's support. Australia also has three naval vessels converging near the Philippines this week as part of a new effort to help with maritime surveillance. The insurgency-racked Philippines island of Mindanao is wide open to anyone with a speed boat - more surveillance is vital. Nor is this isolated. Payne is leading a more active Australian campaign to support militaries across ASEAN. One measure - she has become the first Australian defence minister to visit Laos. "To add this connectivity between countries you can't just create it out of thin air - you have to be there," she says. Loading

Despite Trump's antics, this is no time for clowning around. Peter Hartcher is international editor.