Both Tokyo and Washington are advancing their regional agendas as they aid the Philippines.
Almost immediately after news of the devastation wrecked by typhoon Haiyan starting pouring out of the Philippines, Japan—along with a host of other countries in the region and further afield—pledged significant assistance. The destruction caused by the typhoon has been horrendous and the loss of life and damage to an already weak infrastructure is magnifying the search for the missing and wounded. Tokyo responded by offering millions in aid and two small task forces of emergency relief and its elite disaster relief team. Additionally, Japan pledged to deploy more than one thousand Self Defense Forces (SDF) personnel aboard three naval vessels.