Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The US clashed with China earlier this year over steel imports

Donald Trump's surprise election victory has caused widespread jitters throughout Asia, echoing global concern over the implications of a more isolationist and protectionist attitude by the US during his time in office.

Mr Trump's approach to the world's most important bilateral relationship - China and the US - is still a relative unknown, fuelling speculation over whether the US will eventually recede from the Asia-Pacific region and allow China to fill the vacuum.

Some conservatives in China have suggested that the US must finally face the reality of China overtaking the US as the leading regional power. The reality of Mr Trump's approach, however, may be "congagement": a mixture of enhanced containment and engagement,as opposed to the "smart power" doctrine of the Obama years.

During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump suggested that US allies in the Asia Pacific, such as Japan and South Korea, must do more to secure their neighbourhood and must shoulder more of the cost of the US alliance network.

An early indication of his approach may emerge when he meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the first time on Thursday next week. Sources close to Mr Trump have suggested that encouraging Mr Abe's goals of a more muscular military response towards China would help share the burden among the alliance.

This has been interpreted with alarm in both Beijing and Tokyo. But one of Mr Trump's strategic advisers, former CIA director James Woolsey, has recently suggested a "grand bargain"