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It was the worst clash in years between China and the Philippines at a long-simmering flashpoint in the South China Sea.
For decades, the Philippines has claimed a small reef in disputed waters and signaled its control of the territory by rotating troops to a World War II-era ship grounded there. An international tribunal ruling a decade ago supports the Philippines’ claim.
But last month, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel began circling the ship, which is named the Sierra Madre. It was the latest in a long series of encounters between the two governments at the site, which is called the Second Thomas Shoal.
At one point, the Chinese Coast Guard used small boats to move in on Filipino service members and beat one of the men with a wooden baton, inflicting head injuries, according to Philippine and U.S. officials. China blamed the Philippines for provoking the clash.
The American ambassador expressed outrage and declared that the United States stood with the Philippines, the oldest U.S. treaty ally in Southeast Asia.
Yet no one expects China to curb its expansionist activities in the region anytime soon. And there are growing doubts among Asian nations over what the United States would be willing to do to deter China, given the enormous distraction and resource drain of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
The United States is running low on critical weapons, including air defense interceptors. Iran’s missile and drone attacks have forced U.S. troops to leave bases in the Middle East and destroyed the sites, an indication of what the Chinese military — which is much more powerful than Iran’s — could do in a conflict in Asia.
In early July, China conducted a rare test firing of a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that carried a dummy warhead, sending it into the Pacific Ocean from a nuclear-powered submarine. It is one of the most powerful elements in its arsenal.
While China tests its might, President Trump’s State Department is closing consulates in Japan and Indonesia, according to congressional officials briefed on the decision.
Mr. Trump’s second term “has been a colossal failure for U.S. interests in the Asia region,” Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
“This strategy, if you can call it one, is a gift to China that is undermining U.S. credibility and harming our national security,” he added.
Trump appointees say the administration is not ceding ground in Asia. In a speech in Manila on Aug. 10, Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, said the Trump administration aimed to “maintain a posture of deterrence by denial along the first island chain” — meaning it was willing to commit military resources to dissuade China from invading or attacking islands that include Taiwan and ones in the Philippines and Japan.
But Mr. Colby also said allies needed to spend more on defense and should try to integrate their militaries with that of the United States — and “not vainly and futilely seek to exclude or supplant us.”
Mr. Trump’s global trade war, whose targets have included Southeast Asian nations, has also revealed to allies and partners that the United States can be a commercial antagonist.
The U.S. government has lacked an economic vision for Southeast Asia for years, as Democratic and Republican politicians retreated from a Pacific Rim trade pact that President Barack Obama promoted.
That has left countries in Southeast Asia wondering what happened to the U.S. drive to ensure that it remains a presence that balances against China.
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The Sierra Madre, a Philippine naval ship, in the South China Sea in 2023. Last month, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel began circling the ship and confronted Philippine service members. Credit…Aaron Favila/Associated Press
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