track with China. China andVietnam said at the weekend they had agreed to manage their maritime differences and preserve peace and stability.Both Japan and Vietnam have also been strong supporters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade pact which looks to have stalled in the face of Trump's pledge to withdraw the United States.The delegation signed a number of business agreements, including energy and textile projects and a project to help with the impact of climate change. Japan is Vietnam's biggest foreign investor after South Korea.

China and the US will soon have a head-on confrontation and Beijing winning this duel will lead to "normal exchanges" between the two in the future, said influential state-run Chinese media today.

Beijing - through its media - has gone from dismissing US President-elect DonaldTrump as a "risible rookie" to referring to him as someone who may indeed back his words with deeds, governed as he is by his 'America first' doctrine.

After Trump on Sunday called NATO "obsolete", Beijing is shaken - to its core. Today's editorial in Global Times says as much. It talks of how Trump's focus on the UK and on Russia, and his dismissal of Europe, will see the world order "shaken", which means China "will suffer", the editorial warns.

"It is quite likely that China and the US will face a head-on confrontation. China must be quick in preparing for sharp provocations from the Trump administration. China's win over this confrontation will serve as the basis for normal exchanges between the two in the future," says the state-run