Will trilateral cooperation among US, Japan and Philippines blunt China’s assertiveness in the region?
The risks posed by China’s use of grey zone conflict tactics in territorial disputes, including the deployment of maritime militias, “are clearly very real”, said Mr Tobias Harris, founder and principal of political risk advisory firm Japan Foresight.
“Of course, we absolutely cannot rule out (the risk of accident and escalation). And so this is not something that’s gonna be solved with one summit, or one decision, or one policy. This is a constant process of upgrading.”
The three countries at the summit have shown their eagerness to do much more.
Japan, for instance, is moving from the hub-and-spoke approach to US alliances in the region, to a more networked approach to those relationships, Mr Harris told CNA’s Asia First on Friday.
It is “really fostering connections between US allies directly, rather than just having them go through the United States”, and encouraging like-minded countries “to work together on more issues, and not just on security”.
