As Washington quietly scales back its military exercises with Seoul, the Philippines has raised a question that echoes across the Asia Pacific: when a great power signals restraint, who moves into the space it leaves behind? Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, speaking at the Seoul Defense Dialogue, named China as the most likely answer — and warned that Beijing has long understood how to read such moments. The United States, for its part, has offered Manila reassurances, and trilateral drills with South Korea and Japan continue, suggesting the architecture of regional security stil