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Apr 15, 2014 03:00 am | Jeffrey Ordaniel
In
August 2013, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel declared while in
Manila that the US-Philippines alliance is “an anchor for peace and
stability” in the region. In October of the same year, US Secretary of
State John Kerry emphasized in Tokyo that the “US-Japan alliance is the
cornerstone of peace and prosperity in Asia Pacific.” Notwithstanding
these bold pronouncements from high-ranking US officials, some in
America have expressed concerns over the possibility of entrapment
in case the two US allies’ separate disputes with China turn violent.
Some are concerned that Washington could get dragged into a war with
China over tiny islands that the US has no national interest in. Others
argue that Washington’s long-standing policy of strategic ambiguity
should be applied on the East and South China Seas in order to deter the
Chinese from changing the relevant status quos, and the Japanese and
the Filipinos from getting too emboldened. These beg two important
questions. First, will militarily defending Japan and the Philippines
over their disputes with China really mean entrapment of the US? Second,
will ambiguity in American security commitments to Tokyo and Manila
result in an outcome in favor of peace and stability?Regarding the first question, it is important to dissect what the East and South China Sea disputes involve.
read morehttp://server1.nationalinterest.org/commentary/defending-japan-the-philippines-not-entrapment-10252
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