Overall, it seems that the Obama administration’s preference is to enhance Washington’s strategic footprint in Asia, but avoid diplomatic-military confrontation with China, and encourage allies to stick to a purely diplomatic track to preserve freedom of navigation in international waters. As a result, the Philippines has little choice but to explore a creative path to engagement with China.

Richard Javad Heydarian is a lecturer in international affairs and political science at Ateneo De Manila University, and a policy advisor at the Philippine House of Representatives. He is the author of “How Capitalism Failed the Arab World: The Economic Roots and Precarious Future of the Middle East Uprisings” (Zed, London), and the forthcoming book “The Philippines: The US, China, and the Struggle for Asia’s Pivot State” (Zed, 2015).