Philippines offers U.S. forces access to military bases

[TomCADem]

6. Doesn't Help That China Only Offered $100K In Typhoon Assistance

Philippines had just suffered a huge humanitarian disaster and China decided to flip the bird to the Philippine people by offering a token amount of assistance. China later offered more assistance in response to the uproar, but by then, China had managed to piss off the Filipinos on the street.

Put another way, that was a dumb move by China to stoke animosity among the Philippine people themselves. It is one thing to get into a fight over some barren island that no one cares about, but to flip the Philippines the bird when its people were suffering while the U.S. and most every other country was offering to help was just stupid on China's part and helped drive Philippines to seek a closer alliance with the U.S.