The top foreign and defense officials of the US and the Philippines are scheduled to meet in Washington next week, the US Department of State said on Wednesday, just as the countries have expanded their defense cooperation agreement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin would receive Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo and Philippine Secretary of National Defense Carlito Galvez on Tuesday.
The announcement of the meeting of the two longtime allies came after the Philippines on Monday identified four more of its military bases that the US would get access to under an expansion of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Photo: REUTERS
The near doubling of EDCA sites was achieved at a time of growing concern over China’s conduct in the South China Sea and tension over Taiwan.
The EDCA, signed in 2014 under then-US president Barack Obama, allows US access to Philippine bases for joint training, prepositioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing.
The sites named on Monday are the Camilo Osias navy base in Sta Ana and Cagayan North International Airport — both in Cagayan Province — Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela province, and Balabac Island, off the southern tip of Palawan Island.
The locations are significant, with Isabela and Cagayan facing north toward Taiwan, while Palawan is near the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea, where China has built artificial islands equipped with runways and missile systems.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr made the decision to expand US access in February, but the announcement of the sites was delayed by opposition from some local government leaders concerned about being caught in a potential conflict between the US and China.
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