LettersFor US allies, Trump’s Oval Office offers the most uncomfortable seat

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words Critics of US President Donald Trump during his first term, from former FBI director James Comey to a former White House speech-writer, depicted him as a man who rarely laughed in public, suggesting his presidency was one defined by a lack of humour. But on March 19, during an Oval Office meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Trump showcased his unique brand of wit, delivering a jarring and awkward joke. When asked by a reporter why he had failed to notify close US allies including Japan before the US-Israel attack on Iran at the end of February, Trump said that the US “wanted surprise”. Then, with Takaichi sitting in an armchair next to him, he added: “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbour?” In defending a war that has sent shock waves through global energy markets by invoking the tactics Japan used in its World War II aggression, Trump left his guest visibly frozen. Takaichi sat silently, eyes wide, offering no laughter to echo some chuckles from the officials and reporters in the room. She might have been quietly recalling where Japan’s 1941 surprise attack ultimately led: two nuclear bombs, and an unconditional surrender in 1945, a chapter of history she had spent her political career trying to write off. Clearly, Takaichi did not find the joke funny. Instead, it could be seen as a sort of public humiliation in the very seat of American power. The episode echoed another scene from that same chair. On February 28, 2025, Trump and his vice-president, J.D. Vance, grilled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his alleged ingratitude for US support to Kyiv amid its war with Russia. “Have you said thank you once?” Vance pressed. “You don’t have the cards right now,” Trump said. Following the dramatic confrontation, the meeting collapsed, an anticipated minerals deal was derailed, and a partner was sent home early. This marked a turning point in the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth year, reshaping the dynamics of US-led Western support. This is the new reality for US allies: eroding trust, casual disrespect and routine embarrassment. The gilded armchair, once a symbol of diplomatic privilege, has become a seat of ordeal today. For America’s partners, the most uncomfortable seat in the world is in Trump’s Oval Office. Tibby Chen, Beijing Trump showed his true face with Pearl Harbour remark I refer to the letter, “Trump-Xi summit could bring Middle East lasting peace” (March 18), and I want to say there is no war that ends future wars. Military conflicts originate from the human impulse to translate anger or greed into action; they stem from frustration when human beings fail to suppress an external source of threat or irritation through verbal and non-violent means. It is the same impulse that prompts children to fight over toys and attention, and the same frustration that caused ancient tribes to attack and conquer weaker counterparts. If humans, tribes, nations and political leaders cannot control their internal impulses properly, other nations, young soldiers, children and families would suffer as politicians look on from their war rooms. As such, I look on with horror at the ongoing warfare in the Middle East, and how many things – including Iranians’ daily lives, travellers’ holiday plans, and the global oil supply chain – are collapsing one after another. It took humanity centuries, if not millennia, to realise that military aggression is wrong and peace must prevail – after an estimated 40 to 85 million people died during World War II. The sinking of IRIS Dena earlier this month was an iconic incident – the first instance of a US submarine sinking an enemy surface vessel by torpedo since the end of WWII. If the post-war international order ceases to exist, what are we to rely on? It was also highly inappropriate for US President Donald Trump to compare Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour with the war in Iran, during his meeting with the Japanese prime minister at the White House. US president Franklin D. Roosevelt said the day of the attack on Pearl Harbour, which resulted in thousands of deaths, would “live in infamy”. But maybe the reference to Pearl Harbour was a good one because it underlined that Trump is a fascist aggressor, the Hideki Tojo of our time. The attack on Pearl Harbour prompted peace-loving nations to enter the war and help end it about four years later – utterly defeating the surprise-making power and bringing humanity several decades of relative peace. Tony Cheung, Kennedy Town

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Readers discuss the Trump-Takaichi meeting, and what the US president’s remark about the attack on Pearl Harbour reveals

Readers discuss the Trump-Takaichi meeting, and what the US president’s remark about the attack on Pearl Harbour reveals