There's a sizable contingent of top military leadership, especially in the navy, who considers the philippines indefensible. If they're indefensible, do you just not defend em? There's nothing at all about putting troops into militarily dubious situations for diplomatic purposes. I mean, come on, your war plan has to do better than we're going home if we're attacked. The entire weight of the great democracies of the world are here at your side. This is a old as armies, and it's time that strategists and war planners have to account for that.
Japan's rising sun goes supernova and engulfs a huge area of Asia and the Pacific. A war without mercy begins to develop infusing the whole conflict with a savage vibe.