“I bet a big reason is that the U.S. can’t be counted on for anything for anyone anymore. We have bases in the area, but have become rendered unreliable.”
Well, I read the Asian journaL which is the weekly Filipino (obama ass kissing) newspaper. Right now, just to show you how weak the RP govt is, they are currently bitching that US forces are using their old Clark Air Base, yet according to the agreement, the US cant use it for anything but commercial. Whatever the govt, the RP is weak. Militarily, naval-wise.
However, if the Chicoms invaded the RP, they will draw them into the jungles and annihilate them guerilla-wise, the same way they drew the Japs into the provinces and killed them bit by bit.
If China invaded they would not be as nice as the Japanese. It would be a war of extermination—they would kill every citizen and replace them with Chinese. Japan and China will duke it out someday—now or twenty years from now. All this as the USA sits on its hands—unable to help Japan because of the debts and links to China. The islands will be Chinese—that is that unless China breaks into civil war haves vs have nots.