The Philippines have allowed the United States to set up four additional military bases in the country, providing U.S. forces with a strategic advantage on the South China Sea.<\/p>\n
The expanded access to Philippines bases gives Washington a boost in its efforts to counter China, especially to monitor the Chinese activities in the South China Sea and around self-ruled Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, the Philippines and the United States announced their plans to accelerate the full implementation of the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).<\/p>\n
Under the deal, four new locations have been designated for U.S. military bases. This is in addition to five U.S. bases that are already functioning in the East Asian archipelago.<\/p>\n
The U.S. will complete a number of ongoing projects in the existing five bases.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Government has allocated more than $82 million toward infrastructure investments at the existing five sites under the EDCA, supporting economic growth and job creation in local Philippine communities.<\/p>\n
The two sides have committed to move quickly in agreeing to the necessary plans and investments for the new and existing EDCA locations.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon did not specify the new four locations but said they are in “strategic areas of the country.”<\/p>\n
With this deal, the United States has completed a network of alliances with allied nations in the pacific arc, stretching across Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia.<\/p>\n
The EDCA is a key pillar of the U.S.- Philippines alliance, which supports combined training, exercises, and interoperability between their forces. <\/p>\n
“Expansion of the EDCA will make our alliance stronger and more resilient, and will accelerate modernization of our combined military capabilities,” the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The addition of these new EDCA locations will allow more rapid support for humanitarian and climate-related disasters in the Philippines, and respond to other shared challenges,” it said, in apparent reference to countering potential Chinese provocations in the region. <\/p>\n