The Manila Deterrence: The US and the Philippines Are Quietly Getting Serious About China

Washington and Manila are quietly building up the Philippine military in face of rising threat from China.

A Philippine soldier uses a controller to deploy a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as part of joint army-to-army drills between the United States and the Philippines in Laur, Nueva Ecija province, on Aug. 9, 2024. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Commentary

For a long time, the U.S.–Philippines alliance has been largely overlooked. It existed on paper, showed up in occasional joint exercises, but mostly stayed out of the headlines.