In the recent large-scale military exercises held by the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea, several extraterritorial countries, including Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France, have been involved to varying extents, arousing widespread concern.
Chen Xiangmiao, director of the Center for Global Naval Studies at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in China, believes that the involvement of these countries will not only embolden the Philippines' unilateral actions in the region but also threaten the multilateral security order in the ASEAN-centered region, and may even heighten the risk of a new Cold War in the region. (Zhang Aolin)