American Military News 2/12/2023
The Philippines has granted the United States access to more of its military bases, the defense chiefs of both countries announced on Thursday, amid concerns over China’s continued assertiveness in the South China Sea and potential invasion of Taiwan.
The agreement by both countries to add four new locations “in strategic areas of the country” under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) capped the visit to Manila by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III, who arrived Tuesday night.
Austin held talks with President Marcos at Malacañang before meeting acting Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.
“From defense perspective,” he told the President, “we will continue to work together with our great partners and to build and modernize your capabilities as well as increase our interoperability.”
Mr. Marcos thanked Austin for visiting the Philippines amid a “terribly complicated situation” in the region.
“I would be stating the obvious to say that our longest partner and ally has been the United States,” he said. “And as we traverse these rather troubled waters—geopolitical waters, the economic waters—that we are facing, I again put great importance on that partnership, specifically with the US, [as well as] all partnerships and alliances that we are able to make with our friends around the world.”
“And again, I have always said that it seems to me that the future of the Philippines and, for that matter, the Asia-Pacific will always have to involve the US simply because those partnerships are so strong and so historically embedded in our common psyches that can only be an advantage to both our countries,” he added.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/02/us-gets-access-to-more-ph-bases/
