WASHINGTON — President Trump’s deployment of an aircraft carrier to the waters off the Korean Peninsula has raised tensions across East Asia. But the show of American force conceals a lack of better options for dealing with the provocations of the rogue government in North Korea.

China’s president, Xi Jinping, did not make any public commitment to tighten the pressure on North Korea during his meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., last week with President Trump. Even privately, officials said, he was circumspect. And an attack on North Korea carries far greater risk than the missile strike that Mr. Trump ordered last week to punish President Bashar al-Assad of Syria for his deadly chemical weapons attack.

That leaves the White House in a bind on a security issue that Mr. Trump has described as the most pressing of his presidency. Mr. Trump warned before the meeting with Mr. Xi that the United States would act alone against North Korea if China did not join his pressure campaign.

A senior administration official expressed hope that the productive tone of the meeting would eventually lead to further Chinese actions. But Mr. Trump’s missile strike, which came while he and Mr. Xi were having dinner, could play both ways: Administration officials said it would convince the Chinese leader of Mr. Trump’s resolve, while some experts said it would reinforce fears in Beijing that he is erratic and unpredictable.