For many years, the Philippines mainly stood by the Chinese forces crash its fishing boat And occupy coral reefs and shoals once belonged to the Southeast Asian country.
Those days may soon be over.
Chairperson Ferdinand Marcos Jr.., who took office in June, has adopted the most muscular foreign policy approach the Philippines has seen in nearly a decade. He is looking for alliances, restoring his country defense relations with the United States and prioritizes its country’s territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Earlier this month, Mr. Marcos agreed to grant the US Military access to four new defense sites in the Philippines. On the same day, Washington said it would restart joint patrols in the South China Sea with the Philippines, which Manila had suspended for six years. There is speculation that Subic Bay, a jewel among many naval sites in the Philippines, will also welcome US troops in the coming months.
Marcos’ decisions are largely motivated by a territorial dispute the Philippines has with Beijing over the South China Sea. East Sea. However, he also shared concerns about China’s potential invasion of self-ruled Taiwan, saying it was “difficult to imagine a scenario where the Philippines would not participate somehow”.
On Tuesday, Marcos summoned China’s ambassador after a Chinese coast guard ship pointed a military-grade laser at a Philippine vessel, the first time in years that a president personally filed a protest. so.
From an American perspective, Marcos’ approach is a welcome, if not controversial, change within the Philippines. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, was pro-China and separate the Philippines from the United States until the last months of his term. Marcos has brought the two countries closer together, making the Philippines a pillar of the Biden administration’s strategy to counter China with a stronger military presence in the region.
The northernmost inhabited island of the Philippines, Itbayat, is just 150 kilometers from Taiwan. The United States and the Philippines have not disclosed the four new sites that Americans will have access to, but three are facing Taiwan and one is bordering the South China Sea, according to an official familiar with the discussions speaking on the matter. their conditions. anonymously because he is not authorized to share negotiation details.
The Philippines’ strategic shift comes at a time when US-China relations are at a particularly low point. The recent incursion of a Chinese surveillance balloon, and tit-for-tat diplomatic assurance, prompted Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to cancel a visit to China at the last minute. Although he and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, spoke at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, their acrimonious exchange did not reduce tensions.
Manila may grant the United States access to additional locations across the Philippines in the coming months, despite anger from China.
Military relations between the US and the Philippines
A complex alliance. United States and Philippines announce an agreement that would give US forces access to four more military sites in the Southeast Asian country, creating the largest US military presence there in decades. Here’s what to know:
In an interview, the Philippine ambassador to the United States, Jose Romualdez, said that Subic Bay — once home to the largest U.S. military base outside the United States — is “one of the sites under consideration” for future access by US troops.
Subic Bay is one of the most strategic deep-water ports in Asia, with direct access to the South China Sea as well as the Bashi Channel, the waterway separating Taiwan and the Philippines. Now, an American private equity firm controls a shipyard there.
The story of how Cerberus Capital Management took over the shipyard despite competition from China highlights Filipinos’ growing distrust of Beijing and its expanding commitment to Washington.
In 2019, after it was reported that two Chinese companies had expressed interest in buying a shipyard from a South Korean company, former Philippine navy commander Alexander Pama warned on Facebook that The Philippines is facing “National security is very important.”
A senior navy official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to disclose private discussions with the media, said the navy intends to prevent a Chinese takeover.
Mr. Duterte’s Defense Secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, told reporters that he wanted Philippine government controls shipyard. But Hanjin, the Korean company, has a loan of more than $1 billion and Manila cannot repay it.
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A second senior navy official, who also declined to be named, said the navy then met with the US Embassy in Manila, asking US officials to find a potential buyer, but warned that the US government should not be involved because of Mr. Duterte’s hostility towards Washington.
Mr. Duterte alone has begun to change his views on China and the US
Washington donated millions of Covid-19 vaccines to the Philippines in the summer of 2021. That year, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III told Duterte that the United States considers the Philippines an “equal, sovereign partner “. The next day, Mr. Duterte announced that The Visiting Forces Agreement, a mutual defense pact he has repeatedly threatened to end, is back..
During Duterte’s term, China spent only 3% of the $24 billion pledged to invest in the Philippines, the data shows.
Two months before Mr Duterte left office in June, the Philippine government said Cerberus – whose executive ranks along with former US government officials – had acquired the shipyard.
Although the Philippines is the largest recipient of US military aid in the Indo-Pacific, Marcos has worked to show that his country is not dependent on one or the other. Officials in the Philippines are hoping that strengthening alliances and holding joint exercises with the United States, Japan and South Korea will help modernize the country’s military and cement independence.
This month, Marcos agreed to strengthen economic and defense cooperation with Japan, while the Philippines said it would working with the UK on maritime law enforcement. The Philippine Navy will be one of the new tenants at Subic Bay.
US troops were expelled from the Philippines in 1992 after widespread nationalist protests. The imminent deployment of US troops, who will be rotated to different military locations, has caused some outrage.
Cagayan and Isabela are the two provinces of the Philippines where the United States most likely has been granted access to military sites. Both provinces face Taiwan, adding to the anxiety of locals about being caught between the two superpowers.
In an interview, Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan, said he has not been consulted about these sites and that he opposes allowing access to the United States because he fears it will make Cagayan a “a magnet for a nuclear attack”.
“China is not our enemy,” he said. “The people of Cagayan will be caught in the middle” of the conflict between the US and China, he added. “Why do we have to fight their battles?”
Rodolfo Albano III, governor of Isabela, said he was also unaware of a site in his province. He said he didn’t want American weapons in Isabela “because our province would be a target.”
“We have a good relationship with Beijing, don’t we? Why make it worse? Mr. Albano said.
But Mr. Mamba and Mr. Albano are in the minority. Opinion polls show that nine out of 10 Filipinos want the government to assert its rights over the South China Sea. Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit, founder of a research consultancy on the Philippines, said his organization’s last survey in December showed that 84% of Filipinos choose the US over China as their security partner.
Richard Gordon, a former senator and former chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Government, said Manila’s lack of confrontation with China in the South China Sea shows his country “has no backbone”. “Those are my friends from the same province, my compatriots. And our presidents cannot protect them,” he said, referring to Chinese ships harassing Philippine ships.
He cried the day the Americans left, Mr. Gordon added.
If American soldiers return to Subic Bay a generation after they leave, they will find themselves welcome, even though the place is now a shadow of its former self.
A large portion of the former US base has now been turned into a duty-free zone. Resort hotels dot the beach that was once home to American sailors, and a safari park called Zoobic attracts tourists. Outside the Subic Bay Municipality, a plaque commemorates November 24, 1992, the day the Americans left. It read: “We have thrown away the curtains that have locked us in.”
Norberto Montibon, 63, a security guard at Subic Bay, recalls the sad day when the last US ships left, not only because he lost his job at a naval ship repair facility but also because Americans “are a huge part of our lives here.”
“If the US doesn’t leave Subic, then China won’t have islands in the West Philippine Sea,” Montibon said, using the government’s official name for the disputed waters in the South China Sea.
The same year American troops left Subic Bay, China passed legislation making claims to all of the disputed islands in the South China Sea and the waters surrounding them.
Eric Schmitt Contribution report from Washington.
