U.S. to use military bases near China
Americans strike new deal with Philippines
The United States has struck a deal for its troops to use China-facing military bases in the Philippines, securing an arc of alliances to curb Beijing expansion.
The agreement comes amid a regional arms race triggered by the twin threats of China’s takeover ambitions of Taiwan and North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear weapons program.
It also comes on the eve of a rare visit by Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, to China this weekend when he will reportedly meet directly with President Xi Jinping. The Philippines deal was announced Thursday by Lloyd Austin, the U.S. defence secretary, in the capital, Manila, and followed his visit to South Korea to fortify a growing coalition of Western-leaning Asian allies.
Austin said the allies were committed to “strengthening our mutual capacities to resist armed attack,” as he accused China of making “illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea.”
Under the new arrangements, the U.S. will have its largest military presence in the Philippines for 30 years.
The country sits between the South China Sea and the Pacific, strengthening the sweep of U.S. alliances from South Korea and Japan to Five Eyes intelligence partners Australia and New Zealand. It will allow Washington to deploy military equipment and rotate its troops through nine locations controlled by the Philippines, expanding its access to allow a more rapid and flexible response to possible conflict.
The exact location of the new bases has not been revealed, but it is believed three could be on the northern island of Luzon, facing the Bashi Channel that separates the Philippines from Taiwan, which China has promised to take over.
“For a Taiwan contingency, the ability to have access to northern Philippines is going to be important in terms of the U.S. being able to control the Bashi Channel but also in terms of protecting Philippines territorial integrity,” said Drew Thompson, at the National University of Singapore.
American leaders have long sought to reorient U.S. foreign policy to better reflect the rise of China as a significant military and economic competitor.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have risen. China claims the self-ruled island as its own territory — to be taken by force if necessary — and Beijing has sent warships, bombers, fighter jets and support aircraft into airspace near Taiwan on a near-daily basis, sparking concerns of a potential blockade or military action.
China and the Philippines, along with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, have also been locked in tense territorial disputes over the busy and resource-rich South China Sea.