WPS Dispatch

Beijing sees one theater. Washington should, too

Beijing is testing U.S. resolve across the First Island Chain. Washington must pair clearer commitments with the capacity to uphold them. U.S. deterrence in the Pacific is fraying. Restoring it requires clearer commitments to resist China’s coercion, and the means to make them credible. As President Trump sends mixed signals and the Iran war drains […]

Beyond the monkey video: China’s evolving information strategy in the Philippines

For much of the past decade, discussions of China’s influence operations in Southeast Asia have centered on digital diplomacy through embassy Facebook pages, official statements, state-backed media, and coordinated online engagement. These efforts have sought to project Beijing’s preferred image abroad while defending its geopolitical interests, particularly in the South China Sea. Today, however, this […]

Keeping the Scarborough Shoal discourse alive

Seizure of a Vantage Point Located well within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, Scarborough Shoal, or Panatag Shoal to Manila, is an atoll that comprises several terrestrial outcrops that remain elevated above sea level at high tide, and characterized by a vast lagoon that nurses a thriving marine ecosystem. Its geostrategic location is also significant. […]

Manila’s new ASEAN Maritime Center will need focus to move beyond symbolism

Speaking in Cebu last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines announced his intention to establish a new ASEAN Maritime Center to be hosted in the Philippines. Manila currently holds ASEAN’s annually rotating chairmanship and the timing suggests that the Philippines, as an archipelagic state that has long been at the sharp end of […]

Compellence and East Asia’s quiet stumble toward crisis and disorder

Late May and early June 2026 witnessed a flurry of activity over waters in the western Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan and the Philippines. Much as conventional wisdom continues to treat the East China Sea, Yellow Sea/West Sea, Taiwan, and the South China Sea as separate and distinct, these events underscore their interconnectedness. Sea lanes, […]

Before ships collide, narratives already have

A decade after the South China Sea arbitration ruling, the dispute is no longer contested only at sea or in tribunals. At an alarming pace, it is increasingly fought through information warfare on social media platforms, where algorithms dictate visibility and mis/disinformation travels far beyond the disputed waters themselves. A search for “South China Sea” […]

Tuned to perfection: China’s irregular warfare at sea

China is sure to be among the keenest students of the Iran conflict. Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, even when met by a US counter-blockade, had a powerful impact on the rest of the world. Beijing’s ultimate goal of taking over the First Island Chain rests on controlling the seas and key waterways […]