US relations deteriorated simultaneously with both Japan and China despite contrary national interest

Evidence

In the late 1980s and early 1990s relationships between the United States and Asian countries, apart from Vietnam, increasingly became antagonistic, and the ability of the United States to prevail in these controversies declined. These tendencies were particularly marked with respect to the major powers in East Asia, and American relations with China and Japan evolved along parallel paths. Americans, on the one hand, and Chinese and Japanese on the other, spoke of cold wars developing between their countries. … Something closely resembling a trade war was clearly underway between the two countries. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 595

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 595