The U.S.-China rivalry is especially acute in the Asia-Pacific region, which each side considers important for its national interests. Having declared China its main strategic opponent, Washington continues to seek formats for military-political, economic and technological containment of Beijing. The article examines in detail the structure of the American military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and its new format in the form of a trilateral alliance between the United States, Japan and the Philippines. The reasons for the rap-prochement of the three countries and the first steps towards strengthening the union, which has received the unofficial, but already widespread among experts name JAPHUS, are analyzed. The author comes to the conclusion that despite the rapid development of trilateral cooperation in 2022-2023, the anti-Chinese alliance may face difficulties in the future, primarily due to the position of the Philippines, which is in strong economic dependence on China.