Voice of America
02 Feb 2023, 16:05 GMT+10
The United States and the Philippines announced an agreement Thursday that will give the U.S. military access to four new Philippine military sites.
In a joint statement, the two countries did not give specific locations, saying they were in "strategic areas of the country."
The expansion is part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which includes five existing sites.
"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," the statement said.
The new agreement comes as the two longtime allies seek to counter China's increasing assertiveness toward Taiwan and its actions in the South China Sea.
Ahead of the announcement, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the U.S. goal is to strengthen the relationship with the Philippines "in every way possible," and to boost the Philippines' military capabilities.
US Defense Officials Not Losing Sight of China, North Korea
Marcos said the future of the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region "will always have to involve the United States simply because those partnership are so strong."
VOA's National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
Get a daily dose of Manila Metro news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Manila Metro.
More InformationBEIJING, China: Following the inability of China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd to release financial reporting obligations in 2020, China ...
BLUE MOUNTAINS, Sydney, NSW, Australia - A search in the Blue Mountains for a man that was launched on Sunday ...
BERLIN, Germany: Germany will send a cabinet minister to visit Taiwan next week, at a time when Berlin is reviewing ...
HANOI, Vietnam: SpaceX, Netflix and Boeing will join what is described as the "biggest-ever" U.S. business mission to meet in ...
TAIPEI, Taiwan: Reuters reported that after winning an order to manufacture wireless AirPods earphones for Apple for the first time, ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The US government has charged exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with being the mastermind behind a complex conspiracy ...
FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Authorities said that as part of a crackdown on gangs suspected of blowing up ATM machines and stealing ...
BERLIN, Germany: Germany will send a cabinet minister to visit Taiwan next week, at a time when Berlin is reviewing ...
ZURICH, Switzerland - Depositors will be fully protected, shareholders will have their equity dwarfed, while bond holders will be largely ...
ATLANTA, Georgia: Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week showed that in 2021 during the ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: Demands by environmentalists have resulted in the passing of rules in which natural gas-powered furnaces and water ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The US government has charged exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with being the mastermind behind a complex conspiracy ...