US gets access to more Philippine military bases amid China concerns

 

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The US and the Philippines have announced expanding their defence pact, with US troops granted access to four more military bases in the Southeast Asian nation. The agreement to deepen cooperation came as US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Manila on Thursday, when he held talks with Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who was sworn in last June as the Philippine president.

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The expansion would make the two countries' alliance "stronger and more resilient", according to a joint statement published on the websites of the US Department of Defence and the Philippines' Department of National Defence.

The statement also mentioned the "substantial completion" of the projects at five other Philippine bases already covered in the 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

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EDCA, in addition to allowing US troops to rotate through the five bases, including those near disputed waters, also permits the storage of defence equipment and supplies on the bases.

The announcement did not elaborate on the new locations or the "shared challenges" they would help respond to.

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Earlier this week, a number of US defence officials informed CNN about Washington's plans to expand its access to Philippine bases with an eye towards China. Washington has recently been aggressively making deals in the Indo-Pacific region, announcing plans to deploy new US Marine units to Japanese Islands as well as plans to share defence technologies with India.

Expanded access to the Philippine bases would offer the US military a strategic footing on the southeastern edge of the South China Sea just 200 miles south of Taiwan.

China claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as part of its territory and still has not excluded the use of force to achieve its ambition. Last year, Beijing launched major military exercises around the island, in response to then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei.