Donald Trump is preparing for his May visit to Beijing, and eight Eurasian nations will be watching not just for signals on US-China relations but for whether Washington has any serious plan for the vast landmass between them. A Hudson Institute fellow says Trump has three concrete options available - and all of them align with his administration's existing instincts.

Ken Moriyasu laid out the options in The Washington Post.

The first move: establish a regular "Eurasia 8+1" dialogue, convening Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan with the US on an annual basis. No such format currently exists, and creating one would cost little while signaling that Washington views the Eurasian interior as central to global strategy.

The second opportunity sits in Trump's lap this year. As host of the G-20 summit in Miami, he can invite several of these swing states - a gesture that would elevate their international standing and tie them more closely to US-led forums.

Third, Trump can enlist Japan. Tokyo already understands the swing-state logic and is acting on it. In January, Japan's Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Hiroyuki Namazu visited the Organization of Turkic States in Istanbul, whose members include Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The organization's secretary general told Namazu that Japan and Turkic states share an Altaic linguistic heritage and that Tokyo could apply for permanent observer status. The same logic extends to South Korea.

Some of this is already happening by accident. The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP corridor, brokers connectivity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, establishing a US-managed link between Central Asia, Turkey, and Europe that bypasses Russia. But Moriyasu argues Trump needs to be deliberate rather than lucky: if the US fails to engage these states systematically, the infrastructure, energy routes, and trade networks will lock into patterns that favor Beijing for decades.

Earlier, "Hvylya" reported on why Beijing's leadership fears its moment of strategic advantage may be slipping away.