Business Insider quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow Robert Manning on the Japanese military sending assets into the potential powder keg of the South China Sea:
Japan’s involvement in South China Sea patrols are the fruits of a US effort at forming a broader alliance in the region as part of its Pacific Pivot.
“I think what the United States is doing if you look carefully with the defense guidelines with Japan, Vietnam and elsewhere, is we’re putting together a loose coalition of allies and security partners that includes India, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and so on,” Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Robert Manning told the Washington Times.