US-Japan-Philippines Summit: Strengthening Deterrence or Exacerbating Conflict?

On April 11, U.S. President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in Washington for the first U.S.-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit. The summit aims to tighten and institutionalize trilateral cooperation to counter China’s regional assertiveness. The three countries have already agreed to conduct regular joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea and will be looking to further deepen ties.
This partnership marks another advance in the broad U.S. aim of leveraging its bilateral alliances into “minilateral” arrangements to counterbalance China-following the emergence of the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) and Japan-U.S.-South Korea trilaterals and the U.S.-Japan-India-Australia Quad. As American initiatives for international cooperation are increasingly focused on isolating China, what are the implications for regional security in the Asia-Pacific? Will they deter Chinese aggression and promote regional stability as intended, or will they reinforce escalatory dynamics and push the region toward open conflict?
The Quincy Institute held a discussion to dive into these questions, featuring Mike Mochizuki, non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute and Japan-U.S. Relations Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University, and Sarang Shidore, director of the Global South program at the Quincy Institute. Jake Werner, acting director of the East Asia program at the Quincy Institute, moderated the conversation.
Download the full transcript webinar here:
quincyinst.s3.amazonaws.com/w...

[@americanbisdak1514]

Watching from the 'burgh!

[@strongdecaf3729]

Bad audio quality

[@mari-leo8807]

I guess, Shidore’s outlook is not that accurate and desirable.

[@eymeeraosaka2954]

You have the Japanese view. You have the Philippines view. But what about the Chinese point of views? Is the Chinese not stakeholder too in this potential conflict? In short, are your views are bias? The way I see it there is only one way. The US will get the war it wants with China. But what about the law of unintended consequences? Will South Korea be dragged in as well together with Australia? And is North Korea and Russia gonna just stand by and watch China get defeated knowing they will be next on the menu as the they are not at the US table? Will this then not lead to WWIII?

[@deanzaZZR]

I appreciate Mike's comments about the need to lower the temperature in the SCS but with Blinken and Campbell in charge of US policy what can you expect?

[@chrisk7118]

Current global investor groupthink about investing in Vietnam and ASEAN needs to end, and instead begin investing in like-minded countries such as the Philippines and Japan.

[@novorossian2279]

The nations listed are the obvious troublemakers in most scenarios you could name today. This hardly requires a moment's thought, it is so very obvious.