‘We are a frontline state’: how the Philippines is preparing for a US-China war

In the heart of Manila, where noise and chaos reign supreme, the American Cemetery and Memorial is an oasis of stillness.

More than 50,000 fallen troops are honoured at the site – some with white marble headstones, but most as names etched into the Walls of the Missing, their remains never recovered. All but a handful were American soldiers. The cemetery does not commemorate the estimated 1 million Filipinos who also died in the Pacific War of 1941-45.

“Sometimes, it’s as if you can feel the temperature rising,” said a Western military officer based in the Philippines who asked not be identified, speaking after a recent ceremony to commemorate America’s war dead. “China is essentially already on a war footing, and so our own preparations for war are gathering pace.”