US announces $500 million in military aid to Philippines amid South China Sea tensions
MANILA: The United States on Tuesday announced $500 million in military funding to modernize the Philippine military, as the two allies agreed to strengthen defense cooperation amid lingering tensions with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea.
The funding was announced after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. in Manila.
“We are now providing an additional $500 million in foreign military funding to the Philippines to enhance security cooperation with our oldest treaty ally in the region, marking a new step in strengthening our alliance. This is a once-in-a-generation investment to help modernize the Philippine Military and Coast Guard,” Blinken told reporters.
The US commitment to increase defense assistance to the Philippines comes after an ongoing maritime confrontation between Chinese coast guard vessels and Philippine vessels in strategic waters that Beijing claims as its own.
“We both have concerns, and other countries in the region have concerns, about some of the actions that the People’s Republic of China has taken, escalating actions in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and elsewhere,”
Last month, the Chinese coast guard attacked and rammed a Philippine warship during a supply mission to Thomas II Reef, part of disputed waters, sparking a row between the two countries.
The United States and the Philippines have a defense treaty, and Washington has repeatedly warned that Chinese attacks on Philippine warships could prompt U.S. military retaliation.
“This level of funding is unprecedented and sends a clear message of support for the Philippines from the (Joe) Biden-(Kamala) Harris administration, the U.S. Congress and the American people,” Austin said.
“During the meeting, we also reaffirmed that the collective defense treaty remains the foundation of our alliance, and made it clear that the collective defense treaty applies to any armed attack on our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea,”
Manila and Beijing have overlapping claims to the resource-rich waterway, through which much of the world's trade and oil passes.
In recent years, China has stepped up its military activities in the area, with its coast guard regularly intruding into Philippine waters, even after an international tribunal in The Hague dismissed Beijing's broader claims in 2016.
The Philippines and the United States agreed on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation on cybersecurity and other areas, with the aim of making the Southeast Asian nation more resilient to external threats.
“Every peso or dollar spent on strengthening the Philippines’ ability to defend itself and deter illegal aggression will be an advantage in the fight against threat actors, be it China or anyone else,” Teodoro said. He added that the new funding would also boost the Philippines’ humanitarian and disaster response capabilities.
“Therefore, these investments are not one-dimensional investments, but multi-dimensional investments that will help develop the country and help prevent unwanted and illegal aggression by creating a credible deterrent posture.”
Don McLain Gill, a professor of international studies at De La Salle University in Manila, said U.S. defense assistance is crucial to both countries.
“The $500 million military funding is essential for the Philippines at a time when it is seeking a comprehensive archipelago defense approach, which has already been implemented by the military, and to lead the Philippines into a program to upgrade its military to be more capable of defending Philippine waters,” he told Arab News.
“This is a commendable initiative and an important development within the US-Philippines alliance and the US’s role as a capacity builder and security provider.”
