A Study Of The Us-philippine Alliance In Duterte’s Period

In 2016,after Duterte was elected as president of the Philippines,he attracted widespread attention for his sharp words and tough governing style.As the most important part of Philippine diplomatic relations,the US-Philippines Alliance has undergone obvious changes after Duterte took power.Specifically,although the political mutual trust between the two countries has decreased significantly and the frequency of political dialogue has decreased;in the military field,it has experienced two stages of weakening of alliance relations at the end of Obama ’s administration and strengthening during the Trump era.In terms of economic and social development assistance other than political and military,the changes in relations between the two countries are not particularly noticeable.The emergence of the above changes is the result of the joint action of different levels of factors.At the level of policy makers,Duterte ’s personal ruling philosophy and personality determine his basic position of anti-Americanism,which has influenced the formulation of US policy;Connotation,taking domestic economic and social development and stable surrounding environment as the main content of national interest.At the same time,the Trump administration’s perception of US interests in Southeast Asia is also different from that of Obama,which has led to a greater focus on US actual interests in the process of dealing with allies.At the system level,under Duterte’s administration,the non-traditional security threats facing Southeast Asia,where the Philippines is located,have risen rapidly,becoming the primary factor threatening regional stability and the national security of the Philippines.This has also prompted the Philippines to abandon its confrontation with China and strengthen military cooperation with the United States in the fight against terrorism.Under the combined effect of the above factors,the US-Philippines alliance has experienced special changes in reduced political mutual trust,but military cooperation has continued to develop.The impact of the changes in the US-Philippine alliance relationship is multifaceted,involving not only the United States and the Philippines,but also China.For the Philippines,changes in the US-Philippine alliance will help strengthen Duterte’s ruling position at home and expand the country’s space for diplomatic activities internationally.For the United States,the Philippines,as an important ally in Southeast Asia,has changed its attitude toward the United States,which is notconducive to the implementation of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy",and has also damaged the political and economic influence of the United States in this region to some extent.However,due to the existence of military security cooperation,it is beneficial for the United States to fight terrorism and maintain national security.After the above analysis,This article believes that due to the core position of the military alliance in the US-Philippine alliance,the strengthening of the US-Philippine military security cooperation during the Duterte period determined the basic trend of the US-Philippine alliance,that is,although the level of US-Philippine political mutual trust has declined,Due to the improvement of the level of military security cooperation,the US-Philippine alliance relationship is still in a state of limited rise in general.