The designation of Filipino independency in 1946 only strengthened American-Philippine cooperation during the Cold War, including them in the framework of the Containment strategy to the first line of the island chain extending from Japan through Taiwan to Borneo. Since the U.S. proclamation of the Indo-Pacific strategy in 2022, which aims to halt China's hegemonic policy, the function of the Philippines has clearly increased — not only in the context of the alliance with the United States and their policies in the Asia-Pacific region, but besides through Filipino-Chinese antagonisms, peculiarly Beijing's claims against South China's waters.
