Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The United States (US) and the Philippines on Thursday announced a deal to give US forces access to another 4 bases in the Southeast Asian nation as the longtime partners seek to counter the military rise of China.
The deal to expand cooperation in strategic areas of the country was inked during the visit of US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
It comes as both countries seek to repair relations that were fractured in recent years under the previous Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. He favored China over the former colonial master of his country, but the new government of Ferdinand Marcos is keen to reverse the course.
China’s increasing assertiveness on Taiwan and its establishing bases in the disputed waters of South China Sea has provided a fresh impetus to the US and Philippines to consolidate their partnership.
Due to its contiguity to Taiwan and its surrounding waters, cooperation from the Southeast Asian nation would be important in the event of a conflict with China, which a 4-star US Air Force general has said could happen as early as 2025.
US access expands to 9 bases
Austin said that the 4 new bases bring the total number of sites reachable to US forces to 9.
A senior Philippine official said that talks were ongoing for a potential tenth site.
The announcement came as the US reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands after a thirty-year hiatus as it contests with China for influence in the South Pacific.
The US and the Philippines have a decades-old security partnership that includes a mutual defense agreement and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Treaty, which allows US forces to rotate through 5 Philippine bases, including those close to disputed waters.
It also allows the US troops to store defence equipment and supplies on the bases.
