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The Pentagon has been trying to pivot to the Pacific for years now. Under President Donald Trump 2.0, who is focused on China, it just might happen. It’s a complicated body of water with dozens of players and a bloody history. One where Beijing is increasingly asserting itself.

Here to walk us through some of it is Angry Planet producer and Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Kevin Knodell. He’s just back from the Philippines where he spent two weeks reporting on a joint exercise between the U.S. and its allies in the Pacific.

• Balikatan
• 
  
• Training exercises as signalling
• How 40 years of Balikatan tells the story of U.S.-Philippines relations
• “There are definitely some places where it is about the fish.”
• The Chinese Maritime Militia
• Duterte vs Marcos in 2025
• Why America doesn’t understand China
• Russia’s imperial history in the Pacific (Kevin misspoke here, it’s Fort Elizabeth not Fort Alexandria)
• Why people like Pete Hegseth
• The Nine-Dash line
• The century of humiliation
• Checking up on Red Hill

Hawaii troops forge alliances in Philippines

Army, allies ponder Pacific role

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