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.”
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat