US military presence reinforced in the Philippines: Beijing warns

U.S. Army soldiers demonstrate equipment in front of their Filipino counterparts ahead of a joint live-fire exercise at Fort Magsaysay, March 31, 2023. AFP - TED ALJIBE

Text by: RFI Follow

5 min

The People's Republic of China warned the Philippines on Tuesday, April 4, that its decision to host U.S. troops and equipment at four additional bases in its territory will have consequences. The day before, Manila had made public the location of these four highly strategic positions.

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Manila on Monday unveiled the location of four new military bases that the Philippines had already planned in February to make available to the United States on its territory, provoking the ire of China.

According to Beijing, the new bilateral agreement allowing access to Washington to these four new bases, against only five previously, is likely to "jeopardize regional peace and stability".

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For their own sake," the Americans "are continuously strengthening their military deployment in the region," said Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry.

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This is sure to escalate military tension. ", warns and even threatens the spokesperson of the Chinese diplomacy, who spoke as part of a regular press conference.

The Philippine government announces 4 new sites the US military has been given access to. Three are in the north, close to Taiwan; one is in Palawan, facing the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea. According to the full statement, the sites are "suitable and mutually beneficial." ... pic.twitter.com/AuxeqbDCOs

— Barnaby Lo 吳宗鴻 (@barnabychuck) April 3, 2023

Continuing to contain

In the northern Philippines, the US military will be able to access the Santa Ana naval base in the northern province of Cagayan, about 400 kilometers from Taiwan, as well as an airport and a military camp further south on Luzon Island, allowing activities in both the east and west of the country.

The fourth site, which also attracts attention, is on the Balabac archipelago, off the southern tip of the island of Palawan, facing Malaysia, at the intersection between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. The four sites are highly strategic, especially to keep an eye on maritime traffic, on and underwater.

The choice of location can be interpreted as a way for the United States to perpetuate the "containment" of Chinese power, to "contain" it in its claims and in its deployment. "Countries in the region should think carefully about what is really appropriate," Mao Ning warned.

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This is in order to make choices that are beneficial to their interests, as well as to regional peace and stability. ", she adds, while the Philippine plans tend to demonstrate that Manila is once again privileging its historical link with Washington, even if it means encountering problems in its relationship with Beijing.

► Also listen: Philippines: back to the pro-Washington box

Manila, a torn ally

The Philippines and the United States are long-time allies. The father of the current president, Ferdinand Marcos, or Benigno Aquino III, contributed to this. The recent announcements are a continuation of the latter's policy.

The treaty allowing US soldiers to access five bases, and to store military equipment – now nine bases, so – dates from 2014. This is the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

But Rodrigo Duterte, Aquino's successor and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s predecessor, had sought a different balance. He hoped to spare China, hoping to improve the economic relationship.

In a sign that the alliance of autan with Washington is no longer so natural nowadays, the governor of Cagayan, Manuel Mamba, had publicly opposed the presence of such sites in his province.

He fears that Chinese investments, in the classic retaliatory game observed by Beijing's diplomacy, will be jeopardized. Or that his province becomes a target in a conflict over Taiwan.

► Read also: The "small" neighbors of the "big" maritime China

Violations of UNCLOS

If the latent conflict over Taiwan, an archipelago located in the East China Sea, is currently much talked about, the Americans also want to keep an eye, obviously, on the southern waters too.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, ignoring the territorial convictions of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and almost Indonesia at times.

In 2016, Manila obtained in court the recognition of its Exclusive Economic Zone, denunciation of regular violations of UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea, by Beijing.

But his successor, elected the same year, had not invoked too much this decision of international justice obtained in The Hague, preferring to use it sparingly in the context of his bilateral relationship with China.

► Read also: With the son Marcos, what posture for the Philippines in the "China Sea"?

Growing tensions

Faced with Chinese advances at sea, Washington, under the impetus of Joe Biden, has sought to strengthen its ties in the region, and with the Philippines in particular, its former colony, after the Trump years.

The government of Ferdinand Marcos Jr seems to be an opportunity for Mr. Biden in the face of the accelerated construction of Chinese bases, strategic and therefore potentially military, in the South China Sea.

In addition to the geostrategic, or energy, issues south of China (and east), this vast multi-millennial maritime area of the South China Sea transits a considerable part of world trade.

The United States and its allies regularly conduct naval deployments, innocent passages, in the South China Sea in the name of freedom of navigation. But China is responding with growing vehemence.

►On the same subject: At sea, the new Australian government is already rubbing shoulders with the Chinese giant

(With agencies)

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• Philippines
• Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
• United States
• China
• Defense
• Diplomacy