Rising Tensions in the South China Sea Lead the Philippines to Side With the United States
from Asia Unbound and Asia Program

Rising Tensions in the South China Sea Lead the Philippines to Side With the United States

In contrast to other Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines has expressly aligned itself with the United States amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.
A Philippine national flag flutters in the wind aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, run aground on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on March 29, 2014.
A Philippine national flag flutters in the wind aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, run aground on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on March 29, 2014. Erik De Castro/Reuters

More on:

South China Sea

Philippines

China

United States

While all other countries in Southeast Asia have tried to maintain a balance between the United States and China, the Philippines, facing increasingly dangerous standoffs with Beijing in the South China Sea, has fully allied with Washington. While this partnership may help protect Manila, it also raises the prospect of wider war and potentially brings the United States more directly into a South China Sea conflict.

For more on the growing China-Philippines tensions and the possibility of a wider war in the South China Sea, see my new Expert Brief.

More on:

South China Sea

Philippines

China

United States

Creative Commons
Creative Commons: Some rights reserved.
Close
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License.
View License Detail