Japan pinpricking China’s gains in SE Asia

MANILA – Intent on checking Beijing’s “vaccine diplomacy” and maritime expansionism in Southeast Asia, the Joe Biden administration is counting increasingly on Japan in a “networked power” strategy to contain China’s regional advances. 

In recent weeks, both the United States and Japan have stepped up their own vaccine diplomacy in the region, donating millions of Covid-19 doses to frontline states such as the Philippines and Vietnam. Both Southeast Asian countries have been grappling with a surge in infection rates as well as Chinese naval expansionism in recent months. 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte profusely thanked Japan for its donations, which he said, “will surely go a long way in our quest for herd immunity.” Simultaneously, the US and Japan have also stepped up their joint military exercises with regional allies to uphold a “free and open order” amid China’s maritime and territorial assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. 

Not long after concluding massive wargames with the US and France, Japan kicked off its first “air-to-air” training with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), underscoring growing “spoke-to-spoke” defense cooperation among the US’ regional allies.

The Japanese embassy in Manila hailed the unprecedented drills as “a clear testament to the deep-rooted bonds of friendship between our two nations.”