The defining challenge for Manila will be to persuade a hesitant Asean to view the South China Sea issue not as an isolated legal tussle for the Philippines, but as a common transnational imperative.
Narratives seeded today will pay off in the future.
The Philippines would be heavily burdened by paying back loans to acquire $5.6 billion worth of F-16s, making Manila more dependent on Washington.
An altered video of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. has surfaced on TikTok.
A network of suspicious Chinese-linked X (formerly Twitter) accounts has simultaneously posted similar content related to Vice President Sara Duterte, boosting social media engagement around her.
