I wouldn't put it past them to use the aftermath of that terrible typhoon to "annex" some territory. They've been encroaching on the Philippines ever since we left. The irony is that when the US closed its bases in the Philippines, the people there all but kicked us out, but now that they have an almost completely dysfunctional government (even worse than the US) and China scares them, guess who they're being nice to again? There are a lot of tensions in Southeast Asia. Vietnam hates China, their former ally against the US and regularly has to keep its Russian-built fighters patrolling for Chinese intruders. China also despises Japan for WWII atrocities. Anyone with a realistic view knows that WHEN China finally decides to swamp Taiwan and possibly nuke Japan, it'll be WWIII, but right now, they don't have the military muscle to hold off a US counterstrike. China's leaders make no secret about it; they one day expect to rule the entire world. Putin wisely plays games with their military hardware purchases and more than a few "leaks" of our tech have been intentional dead ends. Their F-35 knockoff, the J-31, performed so poorly that the Chinese military passed on it altogether and is marketing its as fourth generation + export fighter to poor countries that want to pretend to have a "stealth capability." The Communist Party knows that unless it expands its resource base, its citizens are going to start eyeing their leaders a little less respectfully.