‘A big deal’: US, Philippines tighten military ties

The Philippines said Thursday it was allowing U.S. forces to broaden their footprint in the Southeast Asian nation, the latest Biden administration move strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in any future confrontation over Taiwan.

Thursday’s agreement, which gives U.S. forces access to four more military camps, was announced during a visit by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He has led efforts to reinforce regional security partnerships and update the arming and positioning of American and allied forces in Asia in the face of China’s increasing military strength and its assertiveness regarding its claims to Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

“It’s a big deal,” Austin said at a news conference, while noting the agreement did not mean the re-establishment of permanent American bases in the Philippines.

In a televised news conference with his Philippine counterpart, Carlito Galvez Jr., Austin gave assurances of U.S. military support and said the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which obligates the U.S. and the Philippines to help defend each other in major conflicts, “applies to armed attacks on either of our armed forces, public vessels or aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea.”