Philippines Grants US Access to Four Military Bases

Galvez and Austin said the two countries were also working to step up the secure exchange of information between their defence establishments and increase combined training. The plans come as the US and several of its allies in the region are escalating joint planning and training to cope with China’s growing military power.

Lisa Curtis, an Indo-Pacific expert at the CNAS think-tank in Washington, said the Philippines’ position in the first island chain off the Asian mainland was critical to the entire US alliance system in the Indo-Pacific. In the case of a conflict over Taiwan, “Washington would almost certainly look to Manila as a staging ground for logistics support and US forces”, she added. However, as highlighted by Marcos’s visit to China this month, Manila is also trying to maintain relations with Beijing.

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