The strongest show of force the US could show in the region is to get the new Philippine president Duterte back on our side rather than China's. We need to go forward with reestablishing our bases in the PI....
Rodrigo Duterte is doing what he said he would, and death squads are killing off criminals and others in the purge. A frustrated plurality elected him (39%) on a populist ticket after a campaign which capitalized on the anger of his supporters and the people over criminal misdeeds. He, too, has a past filled with controversial remarks and questionable actions, but this was ignored by his supporters in the electorate.
Of course, Obama would not get along with that, and there is more in common with Communist Chinese tactics in his anti-crime campaign than there is in common with fundamental American ideas of jurisprudence. However, that may be part of the impetus which drives him more toward the Chinese than America at present, where a practically confessed felon in high places isn't even indicted. THis was part of the endemic corruption Duterte promised to clean up.
Much will depend on Trumps actions at home as well as abroad, on deeds as much as words, and the question exists of whether one would want to woo someone so antithetical to a fundamental American concept in order to maintain any strategic advantage in the region. Desperation doth make for strange bedfellows, and that may prove to be the case.
