US Gains Access to Philippine Sites Near Taiwan Amid China Row

Manolo Serapio Jr.
·3 min read
3

(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines has identified four new sites that the US will have access to under an expanded defense agreement, with three of them near Taiwan and a fourth facing the disputed South China Sea as tensions with Beijing persist.

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the main goal for the four extra sites is “to defend the country’s eastern coast,” according to a statement from his communications office Monday. The sites include a naval base and an airport in Cagayan province, a military camp in Isabela province - all near Taiwan - and Balabac Island in Palawan province near the South China Sea.

Defense Chief Carlito Galvez Jr. told reporters that the locations are “very significant” and “very strategic” including the area near the South China Sea which is a key route for around $3 trillion worth of traded goods. It’s the Philippines’ “responsibility to the international community” to secure the area, he said.

But China believes the move would “lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters at a regular press conference in Beijing on Tuesday. She said it’s clear that “the US has been strengthening its military deployment in the region, driven by a zero-sum mentality, in pursuit of selfish interests.”

The new locations will bring the number of military sites the US can access in the Philippines to nine, including five existing ones, under their Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, signed in 2014. The pact allows the US to rotate its troops for prolonged stays as well as build and operate facilities on those bases in the Southeast Asian country. The five current sites are in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija in the main Luzon island, Cebu in central Philippines, Cagayan de Oro in southern Mindanao island and in Palawan.

The EDCA sites would not be American military bases and would be used as storage and warehouse facilities for military logistics, Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said in the statement.

Subic Bay, once home to the US’s biggest naval base in Asia before the Philippines ordered US troops to withdraw from its military bases in the country over three decades ago, was not included, Galvez said. There are “political sensitivities” surrounding Subic, now an economic hub, and the government doesn’t want to send across the message to the public that the American naval base is returning to Subic.

The US won access to the additional sites in February amid continued tensions with Beijing over Taiwan and the South China Sea. China has criticized the plan, with its embassy in Manila describing it as part of US’ attempt to “encircle and contain” Beijing.

Marcos has been bolstering his nation’s longstanding defense alliance with the US that was strained under his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippines and the US are scheduled to hold their largest-ever military exercises starting next week. They are also planning joint patrols in the South China Sea and their top defense officials and diplomats are set to meet in Washington mid-April.

--With assistance from Cecilia Yap, Andreo Calonzo, Colum Murphy and Philip J. Heijmans.

(Adds comments from Chinese foreign ministry, Philippine defense chief)

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