Amid increasing tensions in the Southeast Asian Sea (also known as the South China Sea), the Philippines is being courted by both China and the United States. China’s foreign minister Wang Yi visited Manila in early July and promised to usher in “a golden era” of relations between the two countries. But the meeting seems to have done little to sway the new president. In his first State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr made allusions to territorial disputes with China and swore he would not “abandon even a square inch of territory . . . to any foreign power.”

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken met with Marcos Jr in early August and declared the Philippines to be “an irreplaceable friend” and promised military support in the event of a conflict. During Blinken’s trip, Marcos Jr dismissed the fallout from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan as just a demonstration of the region’s volatility and “how the intensity of that conflict has been.”

When Marcos Jr was elected, pundits surmised that the Chinese government would be pleased, given his father’s friendlier attitude to its larger neighbor. So far this has not been entirely borne out. So what lies behind the Philippines’ steadfast commitment to its relationship with the United States?