RECENTLY on X (formerly Twitter) and other online platforms, some American strategists warned the Philippines against trusting the United States, claiming, in no uncertain terms, that we were pawns in a proxy confrontation between the US and China.

This group urged the Philippines to sit down at the negotiating table with China, insisting that because China is our neighbor, it is our friend. That is quite clearly bad logic and equally bad geopolitics because Russia is a neighbor of Ukraine and has not desisted from attempting to pulverize it. Hamas-held Palestine is Israel's neighbor and its armed thugs started a conflict that has cost both sides dearly. No, neighbors are not necessarily friends.