PH needs to cooperate with US amid China aggression —analyst
MANILA — The Philippines should cooperate with the United States amid Chinese aggression in the IndoPacific region, a security analyst said yesterday.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin III, who arrived in Manila on Tuesday night, January 31, is set to meet President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his counterpart.
“It’s a reaffirmation of the American alliance with Manila,” Dr. Chester Cabalza, founding president of the nonprofit policy research group International Development and Security Cooperation, told ANC’s “Rundown.”
“Basically, we really need to cooperate with Washington right now because of the vulnerability that is happening in our own backyard, particularly in the Taiwan Strait that is close to the northern Philippines and what is happening in the South China Sea, particularly the West Philippine Sea,” he added.
Cabalza said Austin’s second trip to the Philippines could also be a reaction to Marcos’ recent visit to China.
Beijing and Manila have vowed to resolve maritime disagreements through consultation.
Cabalza noted the Palace had been practicing a neutrality policy.
“This is the best time for us to perhaps think about what the best interest for the Philippines is,” he said.
Washington and Manila are expected to announce a deal that will give US troops access to another four military bases in the Philippines.
The two countries have a decades-old security alliance that includes a mutual defense treaty and a 2014 pact, known as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which allows US troops to rotate through five Philippine bases, including those near disputed waters.
It also allows for the US military to store defense equipment and supplies on those bases.
Under the EDCA expansion to be unveiled, the US will have access to at least nine military bases across the archipelago.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has ignored a ruling at the Hague that its claims have no legal basis.
China also claims selfruled, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to be reclaimed one day, by force if necessary.