U.S. and Philippines Increase Military Ties over China Threat

Lisa Curtis, an Indo-Pacific expert at the CNAS think-tank in Washington, said Manila was “wary of getting stuck in the middle of increasing US-China competition” but the new Marcos government seemed realistic about what Washington might request in the event of a Taiwan conflict.

“Washington would almost certainly look to Manila as a staging ground for logistics support and US forces. That is why it is important for the US and the Philippines to advance talks on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement,” said Curtis, in a reference to the 2014 bilateral agreement whose implementation has significantly slowed in recent years.

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