... so I take it that you disagree with Pat Buchanan’s basic premise?
There are no Philippines to defend. Taiwan is on its own, as is Japan. The Gulf nations will have to work out their own defenses as our ability to intervene diminishes.
That’s the way I see it.
Then get ready to meet the Chinese in mid-Pacific, basing themselves on the Philippines and the old Mandate island groups, and slug it out for the ownership of Hawaii, and all the Pacific trade routes, including those to South America. And the Panama Canal, of course.
Think that won't happen? We're talking power-projection politics here, and the fate of nations. When the elephants fight, whiny little Paulbots get crushed into the dirt.
They've already served notice that WestPac is theirs, btw, or did you miss that little sotto voce release from an Official newspaper?
Luckily for us, they're willing to share the central Pacific with us ..... for a while.