BANGKOK — The United States and the Philippines have announced the creation of a joint task force aimed at further deterring what U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Beijing’s “coercion” in the South China Sea.

It is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, where not only the Philippines but also Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have overlapping claims with China in the sea, a major international shipping route.

Analysts tell Military Times the task force could help deter Beijing’s efforts to enforce its sweeping claims to the sea by allowing U.S. and Philippine forces to react much more quickly to Chinese ships in contested waters around the Philippines, where the two countries have often clashed.

Hegseth and his counterpart, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro J

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