A senior Pentagon official visiting the Philippines on Monday issued a call for Asian allies to heighten their defense investments, emphasizing that regional security should not rely solely on the United States. Elbridge Colby, an undersecretary of defense, stated that while Washington remains deeply committed to the region, the goal is to work with “partners, not protectorates.”
Colby, who is also scheduled to visit Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia, dismissed concerns that the U.S. is withdrawing from Asia due to its involvement in the Middle East and the war in Iran. Instead, he asserted that American interests necessitate an enduring presence. “We are not leaving; in fact, we are digging in, to ensure a favorable balance of power where it matters most,” Colby told an audience of diplomats, military leaders, and business executives. He further noted that the U.S. views the region as having “paramount importance.”
While the official avoided direct rhetoric regarding China’s recent actions in the South China Sea, the U.S. has frequently expressed concerns over Beijing’s increasingly hostile conduct toward Philippine naval and coast guard forces. Washington maintains a long-standing treaty obligation to defend the Philippines, its oldest Asian ally, against armed attacks in the disputed waters. These waters, which are claimed almost entirely by Beijing, remain a site of ongoing territorial standoffs involving several nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, despite a 2016 arbitration ruling that rejected China’s broad claims.
Echoing remarks previously made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Shangri-La defense conference in May, Colby reiterated that the U.S. aims to build a defense architecture in the Western Pacific where “aggression is infeasible, escalation unattractive and war deemed irrational.” He stressed that this objective requires a network of capable, sovereign nations that have modernized their own forces. “When we ask our allies and partners to step up, to invest more in their own defense and to take responsibility for their own sovereign security, we are not signaling abandonment,” he explained.
Colby specifically commended the Philippines for its ongoing efforts to strengthen defense capabilities, noting that the country conducts large-scale combat exercises with American forces annually. He also highlighted similar progress being made by Thailand, Indonesia, and other security partners in Southeast Asia as essential steps toward transforming U.S. relationships into true partnerships of equals.
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