Former US President Donald Trump has, in a remarkably short span of time, made a series of statements and policy moves that leave little doubt about the scale of his ambitions. From asserting control over Venezuela to openly declaring his determination to acquire Greenland, Trump has projected a vision of American power that goes beyond influence and deterrence to include territorial expansion. These moves, taken together, signal not merely a desire to restore US dominance but to physically enlarge the country’s strategic footprint.
As Trump pushes this expansionist outlook, the global response has been uneasy. Rival powers are increasingly alert, traditional allies appear unsettled, and China, in particular, is carefully observing the consequences. Trump’s approach risks legitimising a practice that Washington has long condemned: the use of force to alter borders or impose control in the modern international system. The US military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles, not least because it bypassed Congress and was widely seen as violating international law.
Beijing was quick to seize on the episode. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning denounced the US action as a blatant act of bullying and a serious infringement of Venezuelan sovereignty. The language echoed the very terms Washington has frequently used when criticising China’s behaviour, a rhetorical symmetry that was almost certainly intentional. The underlying message was clear: if the United States feels entitled to overthrow governments and detain leaders in its own hemisphere, its moral authority to lecture others on sovereignty is fundamentally weakened.
This precedent raises a more troubling possibility. By normalising coercive action, Washington may inadvertently embolden China to test similar boundaries elsewhere, particularly in Taiwan. Trump has framed the intervention in Venezuela as a form of restitution, arguing that decades of weak leadership allowed US interests to be undermined, assets to be lost, and strategic opportunities to slip away. In his narrative, restoring American greatness requires reclaiming what was allegedly taken.
Greenland fits neatly into this worldview. The island hosts critical US space and surveillance facilities and contains vast reserves of rare earth minerals, resources central to countering China’s dominance in key supply chains. Its strategic location in the Arctic also makes it vital for monitoring Russian and Chinese naval activity. Venezuela, meanwhile, holds some of the world’s largest oil reserves, which Trump has portrayed as being misused by a criminal regime. Colombia, another country he has referenced, is rich in natural resources and sits at the heart of global narcotics trafficking, factors Trump has repeatedly cited to justify a more forceful US posture.
At home, this aggressive foreign policy has delivered political dividends. The Venezuela operation played well with Trump’s MAGA base, briefly lifting his approval ratings at a time when he faces domestic pressure over economic hardship and renewed scrutiny linked to the Epstein files. Administration officials told Reuters that the move was also intended as a message to China, signalling that Beijing’s influence in Latin America would no longer go unchallenged. Analysts such as Craig Singleton of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies argued that the operation exposed the limits of China’s reach in the Western Hemisphere.
Yet the display of power may carry unintended consequences. China has invested heavily in Venezuela and was, until recently, a major destination for its oil exports. The capture of Maduro was a strategic blow, and Beijing responded by framing the event as proof of US hypocrisy. State media described the so-called rules-based international order as little more than a system of plunder driven by American self-interest. President Xi Jinping echoed this sentiment, condemning unilateral bullying that undermines global stability, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned of a world sliding into a “law of the jungle.”
China’s criticism has not been confined to Venezuela. Beijing has also rejected Trump’s claims over Greenland as unjustified and urged European countries to resist US pressure. Chinese commentary has argued that Washington’s willingness to destabilise regions for its own gain risks plunging the world into chaos. Analysts say such rhetoric resonates beyond China, giving Beijing inexpensive but effective ammunition to counter US narratives on global governance.
The implications extend most sharply to Taiwan. On Chinese social media, comparisons have already been drawn between Washington’s actions in Venezuela and Beijing’s longstanding claims over the self-governing island. Xi has made “national rejuvenation” a central pillar of his legacy, and Taiwan lies at the heart of that ambition. China claims the island as its own and has intensified military pressure in recent years through drills simulating blockades and other coercive measures.
Experts warn that Trump’s actions may alter Beijing’s calculations. Steve Tsang of the SOAS China Institute has argued that the assumption of a unified global response to any move against Taiwan is weakening. The erosion of US credibility, he suggests, undermines the very arguments Washington uses to rally international support for Taiwan’s defence. While China generally prefers stability to chaos, Trump’s unpredictability and transactional approach may ultimately strengthen Beijing’s narrative.
In seeking to assert dominance closer to home, Washington risks normalising behaviour it fears elsewhere. By chipping away at the moral authority that underpins deterrence, Trump’s actions may hand China something strategically valuable: justification.
