Less than two weeks into his presidency Donald Trump seems to have proved - in an ominous sense for many people in the United States and abroad - that his campaign rhetoric was not just empty promises.

Despite mounting opposition, Trump has signed executive orders to overturn his predecessor's healthcare reform law, withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, build an anti-migrant wall along the border with Mexico, and temporarily ban entry into the US by nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Even though it has so far been spared a direct provocation from the world's sole superpower, China has no reason to be complacent, given what Trump has previously said about it and the hostile views expressed by some of those who make up his team, especially former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who was confirmed as US secretary of state on Wednesday.