Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., centre, greets U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after their meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on July 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Washington’s top diplomat and defence chief announced $500 million in new military funding on July 30 to boost the Philippines’ external defence and progress on a proposed military intelligence-sharing pact as both allies renewed their concerns over China’s continuing aggressive actions in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has fortified Manila’s decades-old treaty alliance with Washington as hostilities between Philippine and Chinese forces flared since last year in the disputed South China Sea.

Mr. Marcos hailed “very open” communication lines between Washington and Manila, adding that the two countries’ treaty alliance and key issues in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region “are continuously examined and re-examined so we are agile in terms of our responses.”

Mr. Marcos has underscored the need for a U.S. military presence for Asian stability and peace.

After meeting their Philippine counterparts later, Mr. Blinken and Mr. Austin announced the $500 million military funding to help modernize the Philippine military and coast guard and boost security collaboration amid shared concerns over China’s assertive actions.

“Both of us share concerns and many other countries in the region share concerns, as well, about some of the actions that the People’s Republic of China has taken, escalatory actions in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and elsewhere,” including “coercive methods,” Mr. Blinken said in a joint news conference.

He and Mr. Austin renewed a warning that the U.S. would help defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under attack in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea.

“Every peso or dollar spent on hardening Philippine capabilities to defend itself and to deter unlawful aggression will be a plus against any threat actor, whether it be China or anyone,” Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said.

The visit came the week after the Philippines and reached a temporary arrangement to prevent clashes around the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal like the violent faceoff between their forces on June 17.

Philippine forces transported food and other supplies and a fresh batch of navy personnel on July 27 to Manila’s territorial outpost at the shoal without a confrontation were reported for the first time since last year.

The U.S. along with Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and Singapore, have welcomed the arrangement to deescalate tensions, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said.

But the Philippines would continue strengthening its territorial defence with the assistance of the U.S. and other friendly military powers and build new security alliances, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez said.

“The non-confrontational resupply and rotation is purely temporary. The People’s Republic of China will not stop and we are determined just as well,” Mr. Romualdez told The Associated Press.

The $500 million in U.S. military financing would include funding for reinforcing the Philippine navy’s capability. About $125 million would be used for constructions and other improvements in parts of Philippine military bases to be occupied by U.S. forces under the 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, Mr. Romualdez said.

With strong support in Congress, U.S. military funding may double next year “depending on our capacity to absorb it,” Mr. Romualdez said.

Progress in negotiations on a proposed military intelligence-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement was announced by Mr. Austin, who said that the accord may be concluded later this year.

The agreement, similar to ones Washington has forged with other allied countries, would allow the U.S. to provide high-level intelligence, more sophisticated weapons, including missile systems, and access to satellite and drone surveillance systems to the Philippines with an assurance that such intelligence and details about sophisticated weapons would be closely kept secret in a highly secured manner to prevent leaks, two Philippine officials told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly.

Philippine efforts to obtain sophisticated weapons from the U.S. military in the past have been hampered by the lack of such an intelligence deal.

In his meeting with Mr. Blinken and Mr. Austin, Mr. Marcos alluded to the intense political divisions in the U.S. ahead of the presidential elections this year.

“I’m a bit surprised considering how interesting your political situation has become back in the States, but I’m glad that you found the time to come and visit with us,” Mr. Marcos said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Blinken said U.S. support to the Philippines would not change regardless of who becomes America’s next President. Numerous countries have expressed concerns about the implications of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House in January after President Joe Biden withdrew and threw his support to Vice President Kamala Harris.

“That doesn’t change from election to election,” Mr. Blinken said. “That commitment will endure, again, irrespective of administrations and this has been a long and powerful story in our history.”

Mr. Marcos approved last year an expansion of the U.S. military presence in four more Philippine military camps under the 2014 defence agreement, and the largest war drills between Filipino and U.S. forces have been staged under his administration, drawing opposition and alarm from China. Beijing has said that increased deployments of American forces would endanger regional peace and security.

The Philippines has responded that it has the right to move to safeguard its territorial interests and national security.

The Philippine Coast Guard vowed on September 29 to “do whatever it takes” to remove any more floating barriers installed by China at a disputed reef in the South China Sea. The remarks came after an aerial inspection of Scarborough Shoal on September 28 confirmed a 300-metre barrier that ignited the latest diplomatic row between Beijing and Manila had been taken away.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The United States and the Philippines launched annual joint naval war games on Monday, days after the latest diplomatic row between Manila and Beijing over the disputed South China Sea.

More than a thousand sailors from the two allies are taking part in the annual “Samasama” (Tagalog for Together) anti-submarine, surface and electronic warfare drills off Manila and the south of Luzon, the main island of the Philippines.

China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety despite a 2016 international ruling that it has no legal basis, have become a growing concern for Washington and its regional allies.

U.S. Pacific Command chief Vice Admiral Karl Thomas told sailors at an opening ceremony in Manila that the rights of all nations to ensure national sovereignty were “under attack every day on the high seas”.

The “rules-based international order” that guaranteed regional peace for decades has been “ripped at and tagged at and tested to benefit not all nations but one nation,” he said, without mentioning China specifically.

“There’s no better way to ensure sovereignty and security than to sail and to operate together,” Mr. Thomas said.

Asked at a news conference to whom he was referring, Mr. Thomas said it was important to maintain the right to sail through the area “free from worries about being attacked” or “intimidated”.

Beijing has deployed patrol boats in recent weeks that Manila says harass Philippine coast guard vessels and Filipino fishermen in what it refers to as the West Philippine Sea.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos ordered a special operation last month in which coast guard personnel cut a rope tethering a floating barrier at the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal.

Manila said the barrier had prevented Filipino fishermen from entering the fish-rich ring of reefs, which China seized in 2012.

Beijing responded by warning Manila “not to provoke or stir up trouble” and restated its sovereignty and maritime rights to what it calls Huangyan island.

Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci said the Samasama exercise “equips us to face an array of threats together”.

U.S. Navy officials said the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey would take part in the exercises over the next 12 days, along with a dry cargo ammunition ship and P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft.

A Philippine Navy guided missile frigate would also participate, along with a Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force destroyer and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver.

Britain, Japan, Canada, France, and Australia are also sending personnel to tabletop exercises as part of the drills, while New Zealand and Indonesia are sending observers.