The Philippines is to station new fighter jets and two frigates at the former US naval facility in Subic Bay from early next year, officials said, the first time the massive installation has functioned as a military base in 23 years.
Using Subic Bay would allow the Philippine air force and navy to respond more effectively to Chinese moves in the disputed South China Sea, security experts said.
Subic Bay’s deep-water harbor lies on the western side of the main Philippine island of Luzon, opposite the South China Sea.
“The value of Subic as a military base was proven by the Americans. Chinese defense planners know that,” said Rommel Banlaoi, a Philippine security expert.
Once one of the biggest US naval facilities in the world, Subic Bay was shut in 1992 after the Philippine Senate terminated a bases agreement with Washington at the end of the Cold War.
Manila converted the facility, which was never home to the Philippine military, into an economic zone.
Philippine Undersecretary of Defense Pio Lorenzo Batino said the Philippine military signed an agreement in May with the zone’s operator, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, to use parts of the installation under a renewable 15-year lease.
US warships have called regularly at Subic Bay since 2000, but only to dock during exercises with the Philippine military or to use its commercial facilities for repairs and resupply.
Officials said once Subic Bay is a military base again, the US Navy could have much greater access.
China, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, said it was aware of reports.
“We hope that the Philippines does more to benefit regional peace and stability,” the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a faxed statement.
Beijing also hit out at Manila for repairing a crumbling ship serving as its outpost in the South China Sea, branding the Philippines a “hypocritical troublemaker and rule breaker.”
The Philippine military deliberately grounded the 100m World War II-vintage BRP Sierra Madre on top of the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗) in 1999 in an effort to check the advance of China, which four years earlier occupied Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) about 40km away.
Philippine Navy spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo said on Wednesday that the vessel was being repaired to ensure the ship remains livable for a unit of marines guarding the reefs.
The move drew a vehement protest from Beijing, with Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) accusing Manila of attempting to “permanently steal” the outcrops, while insisting that all of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) are Chinese territory. Some or all of the islands are claimed by Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
“China strongly protests and firmly opposes such an act,” Hua said in a statement on Wednesday.
She also argued that Manila had gone back on its word by repeatedly promising to remove the ship — a claim the Philippines denies.
“The relevant activity fully exposed the Philippines’ hypocrisy and that it is a double dealer,” Hua said. “It once again proved that the Philippines is truly a troublemaker and rule breaker in the region.”
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