IRIA News

The U.S. Defense Chief arrived in Manila on February 1, 2023, to discuss the possibilities of increasing the presence of the U.S. military in more Philippine military camps to counter China’s increasing military might in the South China Sea.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is seeking to increase U.S. military partnerships in Asia as he visits South Korea and the Philippines. Austin arrived in Manila from South Korea, where he also indicated the deployment of advanced U.S. weapons such as fighter jets and bombers. The U.S. seeks to bolster joint training with South Korean forces in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat.

In the Philippines, Austin visited southern Zamboanga city and met Filipino generals and a small contingent of U.S. counterterrorism forces based in a local military camp.

A senior U.S. defense official said, While Austin will meet with senior leaders in the Philippine government, he chose to visit Mindanao first to highlight “the consistency and the interoperability of the U.S.-Philippine alliance.”

U.S. defense official highlighted that “the people-to-people ties that we have in our military-to-military relationship in the Philippines are really important part of what makes the alliance so strong.”

According to the regional commander of the Philippines military Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, the contingent consists of more than 100 U.S. military personnel who have provided intelligence and combat advice to Filipino troops for years. The training is used to battle the decades-long insurgencies, which have considerably eased but remain a key threat.

The Philippines has been dealing with terrorism in the southern part of the 7,000-island Pacific archipelago. Abu Sayyaf, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, was active in the early 2000s and can still be a problem today. As recently as 2017, an Islamic State affiliate launched attacks on the city of Marawi, which led to five months of bitter, urban fighting.

“Our working relationship to them is very strong,” Galido told local reporters, adding that U.S. troops help in counter-terrorism, and humanitarian and disaster response missions.

Manila and Washington have a mutual defense treaty that dates back to 1951. Currently, the two sides have been discussing possibilities of granting U.S. forces complete access to four additional bases on the northern land mass of Luzon, which is the Philippines’s closest part to the island of Taiwan. The U.S. military is also seeking to expand its presence on the island of Palawan, which faces the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

The Philippines’ priority in this agreement has been to improve military relations with the U.S. as Manila had been seeking to boost its defense capabilities and interoperability with U.S. forces to improve its ability to cope with climate change and natural disasters.

During Austin’s visit, the Philippines and the United States also announced their plans “to accelerate the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the agreement to designate four new Agreed Locations in strategic areas of the country and the substantial completion of the projects in the existing five Agreed Locations,” the U.S. Department of Defense statement read.

.@SecDef: I’m pleased to announce today that President Marcos has approved 4 new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement locations, bringing the total number of these sites to 9. EDCA allows our forces to operate together more efficiently from key sites across the Philippines. pic.twitter.com/5MnVI0VFDN

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) February 2, 2023

The United States and the Philippines have committed to moving quickly in agreeing to the necessary plans and investments for the new and existing EDCA locations. According to the Pentagon release, the U.S.-Philippine Alliance has “stood the test of time and remains ironclad.” The statement added that both countries are looking forward to the opportunities these new sites will create to expand cooperation.

Despite being one of the main trading partners with China, the Philippines is at odds with the regional superpower in the South China Sea and has been angered by the constant presence of vessels in its exclusive economic zone it says are manned by Chinese militia.