The US and the Philippines have reached a 10-year pact that would allow a larger US military presence in this Southeast Asian nation as it grapples with increasingly tense territorial disputes with China, according to two Philippine officials and a confidential government primer seen yesterday by reporters.
The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which would give US forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow the “prepositioning” of fighters and warships, is due to be signed today at the Philippine Department of Defense in Manila, shortly before the arrival of US President Barack Obama, the officials said.
Obama’s visit is the last leg of a four-country Asian tour that also took him to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
Photo: EPA
The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the pact ahead of its signing.
A Philippine government primer on the defense accord did not indicate how many additional US troops would be deployed “on [a] temporary and rotational basis,” but it said that the number would depend on the scale of joint military activities to be held in Philippine camps.
Hundreds of members of the US military have been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002, to provide counterterrorism training and serve as advisers to Philippine soldiers, who have been battling Muslim militants for decades.
The Philippine Constitution bars permanent US military bases.
Under the agreement, a Philippine base commander would have access to entire areas to be shared with US forces, according to the primer.
Disagreements over Philippine access to designated US areas within local camps had hampered the negotiations for the agreement last year.
The agreement would promote better coordination between US and Philippine forces, boost the 120,000-strong Philippine military’s capability to monitor and secure the country’s territory and respond to natural disasters and other emergencies.
“Prepositioned materiel will allow for timely responses in the event of disasters — natural or otherwise,” the primer said.
The presence of foreign troops remains a sensitive issue in the Philippines, a former US colony.
The Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to close US bases at Subic and Clark, northwest of Manila.
However, in 1999, it ratified an accord with the US allowing temporary visits by US forces. That paved the way for hundreds of US service members to hold counterterrorism combat exercises with Philippine troops dealing with insurgents in the country’s south.
The focus of the Philippines and its underfunded military has increasingly turned to external threats, as territorial spats with China in the potentially oil and gas-rich South China Sea have heated up in recent years. The Philippines has turned to Washington, its longtime defense treaty ally, for help modernize its navy and air force.
Chinese paramilitary ships took effective control of the disputed Scarborough Shoal — known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) in Taiwan, which also lays claim to it — a rich fishing ground off the northwestern Philippines, in 2012. Last year, Chinese coast guard ships were deployed to another contested South China Sea territory, the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙), where they have been trying to block food supplies to Philippine marines aboard a grounded Philippine navy ship in the shallow waters of the remote coral outcrop.
The Philippines’ desire to boost its territorial defense has dovetailed with Washington’s intention to pivot away from years of heavy military engagement in the Middle East to Asia, partly as a counterweight to China’s rising clout.
Such convergence would work to deter China’s increasingly assertive stance in disputed areas, Philippine analyst Ramon Casiple said.
However, it could also further antagonize Beijing, which sees such tactical alliances as a US strategy to contain its rise, and encourage China to intensify its military buildup.
“The Philippines’ immediate and urgent motivation is to strengthen itself and look for a security shield with its pitiful military,” Casiple said. “The US is looking for a re-entry to Asia, where its superpower status has been put in doubt.”
“China will become more careful, but its determination to build its military will intensify because what’s at stake is something which it has publicly declared as a core interest,” he said.
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