The newly reinvigorated U.S. – Philippines alliance has assumed a central role in the developing regional strategic competition with China. Less than 25 years ago, the U.S. – Philippine alliance was moribund, with both sides paying no more than lip service to the notion of mutual defense. That era gave way to “the counter-terrorism decade,” when post 9/11 urgency compelled the United States and the Philippines to deepen military cooperation in order to prevent al Qaeda from gaining a regional toehold in Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago.
It is only over the last six or seven years, thanks in part to China’s increased assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea, that the U.S. – Philippine alliance has come to be defined by China. Today, there is no doubt that the central purpose of the alliance, from a U.S. perspective, is to provide access for U.S. forces and the legitimacy that stems from fulfilling treaty obligations. This provides a physical and political positon from which the United States can act to oppose China’s territorial expansion and coercive behavior in the South China Sea.
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