MANILA, Philippines, July 30, (AP): Washington’s top diplomat and defense chief will announce $500 million in military funding Tuesday to boost Philippine defenses and progress on a proposed military intelligence-sharing pact as both allies expect China’s aggressive actions in the region to continue, a Philippine official said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who has fortified Manila’s decades-old treaty alliance with Washington as hostilities between Philippine and Chinese forces flared since last year in the disputed South China Sea.
Marcos hailed "very open” communication lines between Washington and Manila, adding that the two countries' treaty alliance and key issues in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region "are continuously examined and reexamined so we are agile in terms of our responses."
Marcos has underscored the need for a US military presence for Asian stability and peace.
Blinked said there was "really evidence of a steady drumbeat, very high-level engagements between our countries that are covering the full range of issues and opportunities that bring us together, not only security but also economic."
The US officials also offered condolences over the dozens of deaths wrought by typhoon-worsened monsoon rains in recent weeks and offered US assistance.
The visit came the week after the Philippines and reached a temporary arrangement to prevent clashes around the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal like the violent faceoff between their forces on June 17.
Philippine forces transported food and other supplies and a fresh batch of navy personnel Saturday to Manila’s territorial outpost at the shoal without a confrontation were reported for the first time since last year.
But the Philippines will continue to strengthening its territorial defense with the assistance of the US and other friendly military powers and build new security alliances, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said.
"The non-confrontational resupply and rotation is purely temporary. The People’s Republic of China will not stop and we are determined just as well,” Romualdez told The Associated Press.
The $500 million in US military financing to be announced by Austin in Manila will include funding for naval equipment. About $125 million would be used for constructions and other improvements in parts of Philippine military bases to be occupied by US forces under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Romualdez said.