Top U.S. and Philippine defense and diplomatic officials have agreed to complete a roadmap for U.S. security assistance to the Philippines for the next five to ten years, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
During a Tuesday, April 11th press conference at a so-called ‘2+2 meeting’ in Washington, Austin said the longtime allies discussed the provision of “priority defense platforms,” including radars, drones, military transport aircraft, and coastal and air defense systems.
Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said at the same press conference that the two sides had “redoubled” their commitment to modernizing the Philippine-American alliance in recognition of the fact that their partnership “will have to play a stronger role in preserving an international law-based international order.”
Experts, including former U.S. defense officials, say the U.S. sees the Philippines as a potential site for missiles, rockets, and artillery systems to counter a possible Chinese amphibious invasion of the island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims is part of its territory on historical grounds.
Austin said it was “too early” to discuss what assets the U.S. would deploy on military bases in the Philippines under the recently expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Manalo said the EDCA sites are primarily intended to improve military interoperability, address potential humanitarian disasters, and perhaps “respond to other types of security challenges,” but choose not to elaborate.
The Pentagon did not say specifically what the additional sites will be used for, except that the work will include airport expansion and training with naval assets.
Manalo said that Washington and Manila would hold future discussions on what exactly the U.S. will use such EDCA sites for.
At present, they allow the U.S. to hold joint training operations, pre-position equipment, and build runways, fuel storage, and military housing, but on the condition that no permanent U.S. presence is established.
The U.S. is expected to boost its spending for these sites to more than $100 million by the end of this year, up from a previous $80 million.
While Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured China on Monday that these bases, bolstered by a U.S. presence, would not be used for offensive actions, Beijing remains wary.
On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry stated it was “seriously concerned and strongly dissatisfied” with the joint statement, adding that it “misrepresents and discredits the legitimate and lawful maritime law enforcement activities of the Chinese side and even makes false accusations against China.”
While Beijing “stands ready to work with relevant countries to handle maritime disputes in a proper manner through negotiation and consultation,” it would “resolutely protect its territory, sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular briefing.
The joint statement was made as the U.S. and the Philippines are in the midst of a three-week joint army exercise. Nearly 18,000 military personnel are taking part in the drills, which for the first time involve the firing of live ammunition in the South China Sea.
Called ‘Balikatan’ ( ‘shoulder to shoulder’), the U.S.-Philippine military exercise is the first of its kind under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose predecessor Rodrigo Duterte favored closer ties with China.
The army exercise comes in the wake of China’s naval exercise in the waters around Taiwan, which was meant as a response to a meeting in the U.S. between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
Although Taiwan deems itself independent, Beijing views it as a renegade province that will one day come back into the fold.
The Chinese government also lays claim to the lion’s share of the South China Sea. For years, it has been a cause of friction between countries bordering these waters, taking as a most complicated example the Spratly Islands; while China, Vietnam, and Taiwan lay claim to them wholesale, portions of them are claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.
Only last Monday, a U.S. destroyer conducted a mission there while the Chinese were conducting their drills around Taiwan. The U.S. clarified that the mission was not a direct response to these, but that it was an act of upholding the “rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea.”
Given the steps taken by the U.S. in ‘China-proofing’ the Asian-Pacific region, while regional allies draw closer together and make preparations of their own, a scenario of open conflict with the regional behemoth edges ever closer.
Or, as the highest-ranking U.S. Marine Corps General in Japan disclosed earlier this year in a Financial Times interview, the U.S., just like it did in Ukraine after 2014, is “setting the theater” for a war.
