On April 11, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gathered in Washington, D.C., and the United States, Japan and the Philippines held a meeting of the heads of state. According to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the three heads of state discussed security issues, emerging technology developments, and supply chain security. If we look at these issues separately, the meeting of the heads of state of the three countries involves political, military, and economic issues, but the central theme of the three issues mixed together is to deal with China, isolate China, and contain China. According to Sullivan and Campbell's briefings, the so-called security issue refers to the current disagreement between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. Although the ROK did not attend the meeting, the security issue of the peninsula is also an issue that the leaders of the United States, Japan, and the Philippines should consider together, and the peninsula issue, the Taiwan Strait issue, and the South China Sea issue are, in the final analysis, the China issue.
First, from a security perspective, although China was not mentioned in the agenda discussed by the three leaders, they pointed to China everywhere, so the three countries discussed security issues together in fact to deal with China.
Second, the summit will also discuss the issue of cooperation on emerging technologies, and during his tenure in office, US President Joe Biden introduced a series of bills to encourage the development of emerging technologies and prohibit the export of emerging technologies to China. In fact, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the recently announced Export of Critical Technologies Regulations are typical examples, and this series of regulations and bills is ultimately aimed at preventing China from catching up with or even surpassing the United States in the field of emerging technology development. After all, only by maintaining its technological hegemony can the United States continue to flex its muscles around the world and defend its global hegemony. As long as Japan's loophole is filled, after cutting off the semiconductor market between Japan and China, it will inevitably make Japan better subordinate to the global technological arrangements of the United States, and at the same time it will be able to stumble on China's technological development.
Third, the summit will also discuss the so-called supply chain security issue. The United States has been engaged in the so-called "decoupling and breaking the chain" with China, although Biden and Yellen have repeatedly emphasized that the United States is not decoupling from China, but to ensure the diversification of supply chains and ensure the security of American supply chains. The fact that the summit of the three heads of state has brought the Philippines up also proves that the United States is trying its best to support new suppliers that can replace some of China's products, and the most suitable choice is the Philippines. Although the quality of the Philippine population is relatively low, after all, they are all young and middle-aged laborers, and labor costs are low, but as long as the United States and Japan can invest heavily in the Philippines and build it into a supplier country that can replace part of China's production capacity, the security and diversification of the American supply chain can be realized.
In fact, whether it is a security issue, an emerging technology development issue, or a supply chain security issue, it all boils down to how to isolate China and deal with China. Although the United States, Japan, and the Philippines are united, the intentions of these countries against China are simply impossible to realize, and the reason for this judgment is also based on a variety of reasons.
First, from the perspective of the United States, the current US policy toward China is "investment, alliance, and competition." The so-called investment is to rejuvenate the industrial system and industry of the United States, so as to resist China's pressure, and only when the industrial strength of the United States rises, will the United States have more confidence to compete with China. The so-called alliance is to form a group confrontation with China by forming gangs and factions to create small hills, small courtyards and high walls, so as to oppress China with the strength of everyone. The so-called competition and confrontation means that the United States will absolutely go toe-for-tat with China in the military field, high-tech field, and other key industries and fields that involve US hegemony. The United States knows that China is an all-round competitor, and the United States has never encountered such an adversary, and it does not have its own fatal shortcomings, and at the same time it is catching up with and surpassing the United States in all aspects. When the United States has no choice but to seek cooperation with China, it is unwilling to truly coexist peacefully with China, but instead tries to weaken China's strength by all means and disrupt China's pace of development.
As a result, when the United States faces China, on the one hand, it seeks cooperation, and on the other hand, it wants to engage in confrontation, but it does not dare to make a deadly hand in confrontation, because China has enough ability to destroy the United States. This paradoxical state of affairs is also reflected in the complex mentality of the United States when it comes to forming alliances with its own allies, who want to make these allies rush to the front line and fight to the last man for American interests, but these allies are not stupid. These allies know that the United States does not dare to have a direct all-out confrontation with China, let alone a direct military conflict, and that the United States is undoubtedly playing with people by letting these cannon fodder rush to the front line, and the true state of the allies pulled up by the United States is the dream of sharing a bed with ghosts. In this case, the US battle seems to be very big, but the Americans themselves know very well how much it will do, otherwise Biden would not have taken the initiative to call several times, and then arranged for Yellen to visit China, and also arranged for US Secretary of State Blinken to visit China. From the perspective of the United States, the more the United States makes more and more rampant moves, the more it shows that the United States is more and more panicked, and it also shows more and more that the United States is not sure about the future.
Second, from Japan's point of view, Japan's participation in the so-called summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines this time is more about undertaking many large orders transferred by the United States, which means that Japan is here to seek wealth. At present, the US Navy finds itself unable to compete with China in naval construction, and is simply unable to match China's shipbuilding strength, so the US Navy is eager to hand over the task of naval repair and construction to Japan, because Japan has relatively complete shipbuilding facilities and can also repair and repair nearby, which can better improve the combat efficiency of the US Navy. Of course, Fumio Kishida is not really willing to give up China's semiconductor market and other markets, which is another reason why Fumio Kishida wants to participate in this meeting. All in all, from Japan's point of view, although Japan hopes to be able to pull the United States against China politically and militarily, so as to ensure Japan's influence in East Asia or Asia, Japan also knows very well that Japan cannot afford to provoke China today. China also made it very clear that China and Japan are distant relatives and close neighbors, and Japan itself has to weigh and weigh, and Fumio Kishida's visit to Washington this time is also a ghost, as the so-called thousand-mile trip is only for money, and this is the real purpose of Fumio Kishida.
Third, from the perspective of the Philippines, Marcos Jr.'s attendance at the Tri-State Summit is definitely a big political boost for Marcos Jr., and it can also allow Marcos Jr. to show his value in the hearts of Americans. The problem at the moment is that Marcos Jr. is not stupid, he is pulling the United States and Japan, just trying to increase the weight of the deal with China in the South China Sea, and if the Philippines really really confronts China directly, the Philippines will not be able to bear this consequence. On 7 April, the joint naval exercises of the United States, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia were held for only one day, because in the face of China's absolute strength, all jumping was just a farce. According to Philippine media reports, when the United States, Japan, the Philippines and Australia held a military exercise on April 7, two Chinese warships were closely monitored six nautical miles away from the exercise area, and the ships carrying out the mission included China's electronic reconnaissance ship "Neptune" and the 052D missile destroyer "Nanning." Under the close surveillance of China's two warships, the maritime military exercises of the United States, Japan, the Philippines and Australia appear to be so weak that they have to be hastily handled, and in this case, even if Biden encourages Marcos Jr., Marcos Jr. does not have the courage to confront China.
In short, the meeting between the heads of state of the United States, Japan, and the Philippines in Washington is more of a meeting, and it is only a meeting, and as long as China does its own thing and improves its strength, it can calmly deal with the stormy winds and turbulent waves.