Every US Alliance in the Asia-Pacific Explained

Geopolitical tensions rising throughout the world, particularly between the US and China as their budding cold war continues. In this video, we explain every US alliance in the Pacific region, how they might develop, and how they stack up against China.

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[TLDRnewsGLOBAL]

At the beginning of the video, we imply that India is a small country. Obviously as many commenters have pointed out, this is nonsense: India is, by almost any measure, one of the largest countries in the world. What we were trying to communicate is that the final 3 alliances on this list are less substantial than the first 3; in other words, that India and US are t allies in the same way that, say, Japan and the US are. Apologies, these are errors we shouldn’t be making, and hope you nonetheless enjoyed the video!

[davidblair]

3:55: I need to nitpick here. AUKUS specifically provides Australia with nuclear-_powered_ submarines, not nuclear-_armed_ submarines. Virginia-class subs are powered by a nuclear reactor, but they do not, as a rule, carry nuclear weapons. The advantage a nuclear-powered sub provides is the ability to stay at sea for far longer than a diesel-electric submarine, as nuclear reactors can run for years without refueling. It does not imply that said sub can wipe a city off the map.

[gurhanweyrah]

I think by “smaller alliance” to describe India 🇮🇳, he means the relationship is not as deep as that of Japan or South Korea which is true

[AL-lhht]

Calling the Philippines a “minor alliance” when they literally have a mutual defense treaty with the US is frankly insulting.

[vaguelyvagrant]

It's not "pretty astonishing" that the Vietnamese have a favorable view of the US. Vietnam has a long history. The war with the US (and allies) was a blip in their history, but the Chinese not only invaded in 1979 but also occupied the country for about 1, 000 years. That kind of history leaves a bigger impression of distrust.

[Ali-bulo]

Vietnam has been at war with the US ONCE, they've been at war with China more than ten times through their entire history. The Vietnamese positive attitude toward the US is not astonishing, it's a sign of ignorance and seeing everything from a western-centeric point of view.

[thetrison]

As a Vietnamese, I'm a part of the populace that would hands down support the US in any conflict scenario in the region. I live abroad, too, so a lot of my Western friends found this fact to be quite surprising, given they only learned about our countries' troubled past. HOWEVER, our government is very unlikely going to listen to the people on foreign policy, so when push comes to shove, they'll ditch the friendly facade towards the Americans and try to appease China as much as possible. The reasoning goes beyond the similar systems and ideologies our regime has with Beijing, it's about "not being able to choose our neighbors, so we must learn to live peacefully with them."

[levino]

South China Sea ❌️
South East Asia Sea ✅️

[mattschroeder]

my dad served during the Vietnam war. it warms my heart that were trying to work together now.💕

[dustieboots]

4:46 1, 700 soldiers is wrong. If I remember correctly, its actually 17, 000 soldiers from both PH and US with about 12, 000 US soldiers.

[josuaerick]

You also forgot to mention that Indonesia had one of the biggest military drill with the USA, its called "Garuda Shield 2022" with the same intention of deterring China.

[napoleonibonaparte]

You forgot that the Philippines has a mutual defence treaty and EDCA agreement with the US.

Also, Australia is getting nuclear-powered submarines, not nuclear-armed.

[aidenmiles]

I'm a Vietnamese native, and I know exactly why we're so pro-US rather than pro-China. 😂

[dadthelad]

"The country most concerned, is, no surprise.... the United States..." um, I was expecting Taiwan to be the most concerned about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, but hey, maybe I'm wrong lol.

[britamericaball]

There is a mistake in the Philippines data.

Obviously, the EDCA sites are not meant for missiles, they are not even fully-fledged bases, but mere logistics center for HADR and prepositioning of supplies and rotations of personnel.

And the April exercise called Balikatan, its not 1, 700 troops but 17, 000 comprised of American, Filipino and Australian forces which includes a sinking of a decommissioned Filipino ship and missile firing from PATRIOT missiles.

[ulikemyname]

Vietnam is not just a key regional ally but also a huge economic partner of the US. Few people know but it is actually Vietnam that has the US has the largest trade disparity with. About 10 to 1! Still Vietnam is a huge manufacturing hub and a balancing nation to China's huge labor force. Vietnam has everything to gain if they stand with the US aside from direct conflict

[galatheumbreon]

“Smaller Asian countries”
*includes India*
Me: *confusion*

[bethebullet]

Vietnam and US relations is the literal definition of "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend". The Vietnam war will always be the dumbest war in American History. The fact that the US turned down supporting Ho Chi Minh and then invaded after Vietnam was supported by the Soviets/China, is baffling. Ho Chi Minh never wanted the country to be communist, but was forced to take that path after Democracy turned him away.

[forgottens]

This is surprising but genuinely fascinating goodjob

[pilferchan]

04:47

The military drills with the Philippines are called "Balikatan", and the 2023 exercises involved over 17, 000 soldiers, not 1, 700.