The Pax Silica, the United States' plan to build a tech-production bloc outside China’s reach, now includes 13 countries, from Australia to Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. On April 16, the Philippines joined the initiative, with a 4,000-acre industrial hub on Luzon at the center of the agreement.
The project is being pitched as a base for allied manufacturing, but it also serves strategic purposes. Washington wants the Philippines inside an anti-China production chain, with Filipino minerals helping feed the system.
A New US Hub on Luzon
At the center of the agreement is the Luzon hub, a project that may look like a factory complex but sits much closer to the raw nerve of the US-China rivalry. The issue is not only where chips and electronics are assembled. It is who controls the minerals needed to make them.
That is why the Philippines matters. The country has many nickel, copper, chromite, and cobalt resources Washington wants before Beijing
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