US Indo-Pacific Playbook: Flexing Muscle at China’s Doorstep
U.S. Marines prepare a U.S. Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS), before a live-fire joint Philippines and U.S. military exercise called “Balikatan” at a Philippine Navy training camp in San Antonio, Zambales province, northern Philippines, Sunday, April 27, 2025. 
The Pentagon under the Trump administration has been reorienting the US military architecture toward the Indo-Pacific region, singling out China as the “sole pacing threat.” The Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance offered an animated scenario of reaction to a potential invasion of Taiwan by China, The Washington Post reported in March.The US is typically citing China’s “aggressive behavior” as a pretext to further ratchet up tensions in the Asian-Pacific region. The US Army has created agile new units to operate in a potential conflict with China over Taiwan, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plan: deploy fast-moving Army units to strike Chinese targets gather intel clear the way for US air and naval forces two Multi-Domain Task Forces are already active; a third is coming arm them with new systems like the Typhon missile capable of reaching mainland China
In April, the United States deployed the Typhon missile system in the Philippines as part of joint exercises between the two countries. In September, media reported that the US armed forces, contrary to China’s demands, did not plan to remove the Typhon missile system from the Philippines. Philippine authorities later announced that the country’s armed forces would be trained to operate the system.
The US sent the Typhon land-based Mid-Range Capability Launcher to the Philippines for the joint Balikatan military drills last April. It is still there, and in December Manila signaled interest in acquiring a Typhon system of its own. China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called for the system’s removal, accusing the Philippines of “placing its national security and defense in the hands of others, introducing geopolitical confrontation and risk of arms race into the region.”AnalysisTyphon Missile Deployment is Part of US Plans to Maintain ‘Primacy Over the Planet’10 September 2024, 18:35 GMT