By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
he US has taken another step toward a stronger military alliance with the Philippines, at a time when Manila is seen as a valuable ally in helping ward off Chinese aggression.
The two countries signed an agreement on Monday designed to ensure the security of classified military information that will be exchanged. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, took part in the ceremony in Manila.
No details of the treaty were released. According to The Associated Press, the agreement is similar to ones the US has signed with other countries and will allow the US to provide the Philippines with high-level intelligence and more sophisticated weapons.
The Philippine military also would get access to US satellite and drone surveillance systems in return for assuring the Pentagon the information wouldn’t be leaked. In the past, the Philippines hasn’t been able to buy big-ticket American military hardware because of the lack of such an assurance.
Word of the treaty came a week after a report that the Philippines plans to buy US-made intermediate-range ballistic launchers. According to the Financial Times, Teodoro said the country would acquire the Typhon missile system that the US brought there last spring for military exercises.
The US had kept the Typhon systems in the Philippines since the end of the bilateral drills. China had called that “provocative” and “destabilizing.”
On Nov. 11, the Chinese Communist Party’s English-language newspaper, the Global Times, published an article critical of the reported sale. It quoted the director of a Chinese think tank as saying the Philippines is on track to become a “real troublemaker” in the South China Sea.
The two countries have repeatedly clashed over territorial claims in the last year, and the Chinese coast guard has repeatedly harassed Philippine ships. China claims most of the South China Sea as its own – a claim that the Permanent Court of Arbittration declared has no merit.
During the Biden administration, the US has strengthened military ties with the Philippines. That has included more and larger joint exercises, plus the US has been given more access to bases there.
And while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is all in favor of improving relations with the US, he also wants to bolster his own nation’s military. He has green-lighted a plan to consolidate previous military modernization efforts that were never completed.
The Philippine Navy has bought the Indian-made BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, along with other weapons systems from South Korea and Israel.
