India Rebalances as Trump Ties Sour: Marcos Meets Modi, Philippines Gains South China Sea Ally

Host: Yin Khvat

Summary: President Marcos Jr. meets PM Narendra Modi in India, forging a new strategic partnership based on defense, security and invstment that has China worried in the West Philippine Sea. We analyze the sale of Brahmos missiles to the Philippines, joint naval drills in the South China Sea, and what this means for the Indo-Pacific.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has just concluded an historic five-day state visit to India. During his meeting with President Modi, maritime cooperation was at the top of the agenda. The historic ocean trade links between these two Asian powers go back centuries. But with Beijing’s increasingly aggressive posture in the South China Sea, there is now even greater focus on the military ties between Manila and New Delhi. That includes their first-ever joint naval exercises, as well as the Philippines’ purchases of Indian-made weapon systems, including long-range BrahMos cruise missiles. What does this strategic cooperation mean for the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific? And does Beijing need to be worried? In this episode, we discuss Marcos’ state visit, Indian-Philippine maritime ties, and the realignment of regional alliances during Trump’s second term.

Our guests:

Renato Cruz de Castro
- National Chengchi University MOFA Taiwan Fellow

Sana Hashmi
- Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation Fellow

Roger Liu
- National Sun Yat-sen University International Master’s Program in Asia-Pacific Affairs Assistant Professor

Chapters
00:00:00 – Marcos Meets Modi in India
00:01:42 – Defense Ties in Response to China
00:12:16 – China Reacts to Philippine-India
00:19:35 – Has Quad Changed Under Trump 2.0?
00:22:56 – India and Philippines’ Historical Links




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