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International Security in the Asia-Pacific pp 219–254Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Fostering Military Diplomacy with America’s Bilateral Allies: The Philippine Policy of Linking Spokes Together

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Abstract

This chapter examines the Philippines’ efforts to foster closer security ties with the USA, and its other bilateral security partners, namely Japan, South Korea, and Australia. These moves are aimed at strengthening the territorial defense capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the face of the China challenge in the South China Sea. Consequently, these enhanced strategic relations with the Philippines also pursue the secondary goal of enabling the aforementioned allies to help the AFP overcome its inadequacies in conducting local humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations during and after natural calamities.

This chapter is an updated, revised, detailed, and edited version of the author’s article “Linking Spokes Together: The Philippines’ Gambit of Harnessing the U.S. Alliances in Its External Balancing Policy Against an Emergent China” Pacific Focus (April 2014) Vol. XXIX No. 1. pp. 140–166.

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  1. De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

    Renato Cruz De Castro

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  1. Renato Cruz De Castro
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  1. S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Alan Chong

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De Castro, R.C. (2018). Fostering Military Diplomacy with America’s Bilateral Allies: The Philippine Policy of Linking Spokes Together. In: Chong, A. (eds) International Security in the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60762-7_10

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