The Philippines gives the US access to more military bases.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved four new locations for the American army, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday at a press conference in the Philippine capital Manila.

This increases the number of American locations based on the 2014 bilateral defense agreement EDCA to a total of nine.

In a meeting with Marcos, Austin also pledged that the former colonial power would continue to help the Philippines "build and modernize" its military capabilities.

Austin said the allies are keen to "strengthen our combined capabilities to withstand armed attack."

In this context, the Pentagon chief accused China of making “unlawful claims” in the South China Sea.

The USA and the Philippines are long-term partners.

In recent years, however, the relationship had suffered, among other things, from the fact that Marcos' predecessor Rodrigo Duterte had given priority to relations with China over those with the United States.

Marcos, who has been in office since last summer, is in the process of revising this course.

China builds artificial islands

Beijing's increasingly rigorous approach to the Taiwan question and the construction of Chinese military bases in the disputed South China Sea are current occasions for Washington and Manila to strengthen their partnership.

Beijing regards the island of Taiwan as a breakaway territory that it wants to politically reunite with the mainland - if necessary using military force.

Due to its geographical proximity to Taiwan, the Philippines is an important partner for the US in the event of a conflict with China over the Taiwan issue.

China also claims virtually the entire South China Sea for itself.

However, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of the sea area, which is of enormous strategic and economic importance for the riparian states.

Beijing is also fueling the territorial conflict by piling up artificial islands and building military installations there.

The 2014 EDCA agreement allows US soldiers to use Philippine military bases and store equipment and supplies there.

The exact location of the new locations was not initially announced.

However, most of them are reported to be on the island of Luzon, which is closest to Taiwan and where two bases are already open to the US military.

The US also announced on Thursday the reopening of its embassy in the Solomon Islands after 30 years.

Washington and Beijing are also vying for influence in the South Pacific.