I agree to some extent with your point, but you must also remember that small/poor countries like Vietnam and Philippines are desperate to keep the islands they owned faced with a farrr bigger opponent like China, so they will obviously wish/hope a bigger country that can stand up to China will come to their aid since they know if they start any war/hostility, they will be quickly defeated and all their islands taken away. So I understand their fears/frustration. Though some of them are desolational in thinking the I.S/west will go to war with China for their sake. Lool that will never happen no matter what. We might give them some moral/vocal support,and sell them more weapons to make some bucks, but nothing more. I think it will be better for Vietnam and Philippines to tone down their rhetoric and be less reactive/emotional about this issue (they have been making even other ASEAN members uncomfortable about this) , they should try and negotiate a way out with China themselves, think this way an understanding can be reached that will be beneficial to all parties. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, just like Einstein said. So they should try something different, since their current approach has failed.