Indeed, in the weeks that followed the initial announcement of the pivot (which came just as the 2012 US election campaign was getting under way), China-bashing by American officials got worse. A perfectly normal extension of the US-Philippine security agreement turned into an occasion to bemoan China’s claims on what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the “West Philippine Sea.”
事实上，在最初宣布支点政策的几个星期内（也就是2012年美国大选进行期间），美国官员对中国的抨击一直愈演愈烈。美菲安全协议完全正常的续订变成了宣泄对中国主权要求不满的场所，前国务卿希拉里·克林顿用“西菲律宾海”来称谓中菲的争议领土。