The United States renewed a warning Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty, after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
Philippine diplomats summoned a Chinese Embassy official in Manila on Monday for a strongly worded protest following Sunday’s collisions off Second Thomas Shoal. No injuries were reported but the encounters damaged a Philippine coast guard ship and a wooden-hulled supply boat operated by navy personnel, officials said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called an emergency meeting with the defense secretary and other top military and security officials to discuss the latest hostilities in the disputed waters. The Philippines and other neighbors of China have resisted Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims over virtually the entire South China Sea, and some, like Manila, have sought U.S. military support as incidents multiply.
The US navy has more tonnage than the Chinese and Russian navies combined (which isn’t surprising considering most of the Chinese navy is basically fishing boats with guns attached, and the rest is small low-quality chinesium boats that wouldn’t be able to withstand a kid throwing a few rocks at it), and the US navy by itself also has a larger Air Force than China’s actual air force (almost half of which is helicopters anyways, practically useless for combat in the sea); although if you consider the entire US Department of the Navy (which is Navy + Marines) then they’re the 3rd largest air force in the world, behind – you guessed it– the US Army Aviation Branch (mostly helicopters though) and the US Air Force.
Then there’s the fact that the US has significantly better military technology available & experience to use said technology and to create more technology, along with the resources to actually utilise it; the same can’t be said about China and definitely not Russia. Most Chinese military “innovations” are basically terrible knockoffs of American technology.
Plus the US military has significantly more skilled and higher skilled people available in the military, while rivals (China & Russia) have extremely corrupt military leadership, very little modern combat experience (relative to the US), in general just a very low-skill military and small pool due to authoritarianism & nepotism, practically zero capabilities outside of a small area from their territory.
Based on all of that it’s safe to say that it’s practically impossible for the US military to be “spread thin”, there’s no way for anyone to take air & naval superiority away from the US in any location. The US military has more jets, helicopters & naval vessel displacement than the rest of the top 5-10 countries combined. With those vehicles having significantly higher quality (and having been tested out in combat, having issues ironed out) thanks to the US MIC being extremely competitive&lucrative and not really having crippling nepotism or anything similar to that of China/Russia. The US logistics network needs reworking now but it’s not that bad lmao. Especially compared to rivals.
Also China is objectively in the wrong here lol, they’re directly attacking random Filipino boats for no reason other than China’s illegitimate water claims. China loves attacking its dear neighbours constantly because of its shitty authoritarian & imperialist government.
I don’t know, the US lost a war it started with Vietnam and very recently made an absolute mockery of itself over the course of 20 years in the middle East only to give the keys over to the guys they went there to destroy.
Supporting Taiwan, The Philippines, Ukraine and the apartheid israeli nation is a lot given the US can’t even democratically elect a third in line for the head of state.
Spread thin isn’t about equipment but yes even then the US can be spread thin.