“Are you willing to have us fight that battle?”
That’s a good question. I’m sure that we’ve treaties of mutual defense with the Philippines at least, the others I’m not sure. In this case these countries haven’t been attacked although their economic interests are at stake. Should we go to war to protect other countries economic interests? Of course not.
I hope there’s eventually some rational thinking, some diplomacy that decides these issues but I suspect such a development won’t happen for a very long time.