After President Joe Biden took office, the United States' "Indo-Pacific Strategy" (IPS) --which was officially proposed by former president Donald Trump in November 2017 -- showed a new trend. This recent trajectory includes expanding overseas military bases to deter China's rise at sea, competing against its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure construction, and decoupling China's supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region.
At present, the US military focuses on building a "fire circle" of military deterrence against China around the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea (SCS) and the Indian Ocean. In the Taiwan Strait, the US military has formulated a draft joint operational plan with Japan for Taiwan's "emergency". More recently, an additional four military bases opened to the US army during US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's tour of the Philippines this month. It was speculated that these bases are located on Luzon Island near Taiwan and the Palawan Island around the SCS, though the locations were not disclosed by the Philippines or US officials.
In the SCS, the US military has resumed joint military exercises with the Philippines and sped up military cooperation with Vietnam. Starting around late last month, the US Navy and Marine Corps have conducted drills in the SCS amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese balloon incident. It is the second time that the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz has held military exercises in the SCS in this year. In the Indian Ocean, the US military held joint exercises with the Indian and Indonesian navies.
