Among the ways in which great power competition is reordering Asian geopolitics, a new Western focus on the Philippines stands out. The archipelago country of 115 million people is not rich, spends little on defence and was until 2022 led by an anti-American populist.

Yet Mr Rodrigo Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand “BongBong” Marcos, has returned the Philippines to its usual pro-Western posture. And with Taiwan on its doorstep, its location and longstanding ties to America have made the country central to Western strategy in Asia. As sparring between China and America grows nastier, officials in Washington say the Philippines has become as prominent in their security debates as any Asian country save China itself.