Hegseth will recognize US' limits in its bid to contain China via regional division

Having already visited Europe, where he openly declared the United States' attention was focused on the Asia-Pacific and underscored Washington's singular fixation on China as a strategic competitor, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has embarked on a visit to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and Japan.

This marks Hegseth's first official trip to the "Indo-Pacific" since assuming office, and the itinerary, conspicuously omitting the Republic of Korea, reflects Washington's deepening obsession with containing China. By prioritizing the Philippines — a nation embroiled in maritime disputes with China — over the ROK, the US has effectively signaled its intent to undermine regional stability by escalating confrontations in the South China and East China seas, in a bid to keep China on the back foot.

Hegseth's exclusion of the ROK, ostensibly due to its "uncertain domestic politics", cannot mask the true motive: refocusing Washington's "Indo-Pacific" strategy on the maritime containment of China. The inclusion of the Philippines, a nation the US has encouraged to militarize its stance in the South China Sea, exposes a deliberate effort to transform the Philippines into a frontline proxy.