Why the New US-Philippines Military Pact’s First Project Launch Matters
By Prashanth Parameswaran
April 19, 2018
This week, the first project under the new U.S.-Philippine military agreement signed under the late Obama administration was finally launched by both sides. Though the project was among a series that had already been mulled by officials previously back in 2016, it nonetheless constitutes progress given both the challenges that the U.S.-Philippine alliance has confronted under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as well as the evolving regional security environment.
As I have been noting in these pages, Duterte’s rebalancing of the Philippines’ ties with major powers, most notably the United States and China, has raised questions about the evolution of the U.S.-Philippine alliance during his tenure (See: “The Limits of Duterte’s China-US Rebalanceâ€). Though there have no doubt been challenges on this front, there has also been much more progress than is often appreciated in the defense realm thus far as well (See: “What Will US-Philippine Military Exercises Look Like in 2018?â€).
https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/why-the-new-us-philippines-military-pacts-first-project-launch-matters/
