A dangerous arms race is under way in Asia. How the next US president deals with American allies in the region will decide the outcome of that race.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, the Filipino defence minister explained how his country is rearming in the face of rising tension around its borders. The most obvious threat is an ascendant China, which has made sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea that overlap with the claims of many of its maritime neighbours, including the Philippines.

Manila’s inferior military capacity has prompted its government to seek accommodation with Beijing, even to the point of promising to buy Chinese weapons and materiel. This state of affairs should serve as a wake-up call in Washington and alert Donald Trump’s incoming administration to a much broader problem facing the US in Asia.