| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 政治學研究所 === 107 === After President Rodrigo Duterte came to power in 2016, the relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines soon faced serious challenges. Besides the different attitudes on “War on Drug” and human rights, the biggest criticism came from the new Philippines government was that the Obama administration acted passively in the South China Sea. However, comparing it with what Clinton administration did in 1990s, Obama was believed to play more active role in the region. To explain the phenomenon, the thesis examines the U.S. grand strategies and its Asia-Pacific policies to analyze the American attitude toward South China Sea disputes in 1990s and 2010s. Also, the thesis uses alliance theories to find out the possible conflicts inside the asymmetric alliance. According to the evidences, despite the fact that Obama administration took active military measures to challenge China’s territorial claim, the Chinese growing military power and Obama’s vague signal made it harder to deter China from occupying islands and rocks in the South China Sea than before. Therefore, the Philippines felt insecure and dissatisfied after yielding numerous privileges on VFA and EDCA in order to get the security commitment from the United States.
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