Philippines: At Subic Bay in the northern Philippines, which was once the largest naval base operated by the United States overseas, once-secret ammunition bunkers and barracks lay vacant, deserted, and overrun by weeds. However, that might alter in the near future.
More than 30 years after the closure of its sizable bases there, the US has been taking steps to rebuild its military power in the Philippines. It has also been fortifying an arc of military alliances in Asia in the starkly different post-Cold War era where the perceived new regional threat is an increasingly aggressive China.
The long-time allies announced on Feb. 2 that rotating batches of American forces would be allowed access to four more Philippine military camps in addition to five other local bases, where US-funded construction has accelerated to build barracks, warehouses, and other buildings to accommodate an as-yet-unspecified but anticipated sizable number of visiting troops under a 2014 defence pact.
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The US military would have the presence it needs to be a "strong deterrent against Chinese aggression" in the South China Sea, where China, the Philippines, and four other governments have had increasingly tense territorial rifts, as well as a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory, thanks to the location of the Philippine camps, according to Manila-based political scientist Andrea Chloe Wong.
News of the Philippine government's decision to permit an expanded American military presence rekindled memories of a time when thousands of US sailors injected money, life, and hope into the neighbouring city of Olongapo, which is now a thriving commercial freeport and tourist destination northwest of Manila.
Olongapo was like Las Vegas back then, a Filipino entrepreneur named AJ Saliba told The Associated Press in an interview conducted at his foreign exchange and music store along the once-obnoxious red-light district of Olongapo.
It was noisy even at noon, with the neon lights on and American tourists milling about. There were lots of women. Everyone was making money, including jeepney drivers, tricycle operators, restaurants, bars, and hotels, so if they come back, that'll be the best news ever, he said.
During his recent visit to Manila, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that although Washington was not attempting to reestablish permanent bases, the agreement to increase its military presence under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement was "a big deal."
According to Austin and his Philippine counterpart Carlito Galvez Jr., visiting American military personnel could involve the Philippine military in larger joint combat-readiness exercises, aid in providing quick disaster relief, and push efforts to support modernising Manila's armed forces.
At a news conference in Manila, Austin said, "This is part of our effort to modernise our alliance, and these efforts are especially important as the People's Republic of China continues to advance its illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea."
The US military's expansion in the region, according to a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry named Mao Ning, is escalating tensions and endangering peace and stability.
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At a press briefing in Beijing on February 2, Mao advised reporters to be vigilant and avoid being used or coerced by the US.
The four new locations where the Americans would be given access and permitted to preposition weapons and other equipment were kept a secret by Austin and Galvez. Local authorities needed to be consulted, according to the defence chief of the Philippines, where the Americans would stay.
Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, who was the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the time, revealed in November that the locations included the vital Subic Bay, where the Navy base once boosted the local economy. However, two top-ranking Philippine officials told the AP that Subic, where a Philippine navy camp is located, was not currently on the list of locations to which Washington has requested access for its forces. However, they cautioned that this could change as negotiations continued. Due to their lack of authorization to publicly discuss the matter, the two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Rolen Paulino, the administrator of Subic Freeport, claimed that the government has not informed him that the former US naval base has been flagged as a potential location for incoming US forces.
However, Paulino noted that a reactivated US military presence at Subic would increase employment and boost freeport revenues at a critical time when many Filipinos and businesses are still working to recover from two years of COVID-19 lockdowns and a recession brought on by coronavirus outbreaks. Regarding the US forces, whose presence could aid in the recovery of the economy, he said, "I see them as tourists."
The former American Navy base at Subic, which was roughly the size of Singapore and featured deep harbours, a ship repair facility, and enormous warehouses, was utilised to support the US war effort in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s. After the Philippine Senate rejected an extension of the US lease, it was shut down and converted into a commercial freeport and recreational complex in 1992.
The second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, which occurred nearby Mount Pinatubo, forced the US Air Force to evacuate Clark Air Base near Subic a year earlier. As a result, the air base and surrounding areas were covered in ash.
In November 1992, the last group of American sailors departed Subic and the American flag was lowered for the last time, bringing to an end nearly a century of American military presence in the Philippines that had started in 1898 when the US took control of the archipelago in a new colonial era after Spain had controlled the Southeast Asian country as a colony for more than three centuries. On July 4, 1946, Washington recognised independence, but it continued to support military installations like Subic.
Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China's seizure of Mischief Reef in the middle of the 1990s "provided the first hint that the allies may have been too quick to downgrade their relationship." Mischief Reef is a coral outcrop within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone that extends into the South China Sea.
The Philippine Constitution forbids foreign troops from establishing permanent bases there or engaging in local combat, but it does permit them to temporarily enter the country under security agreements like the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and a 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement.
The 1998 agreement permitted the deployment of numerous American forces in the southern Philippines to aid Filipino forces fighting the Abu Sayyaf organisation, which was then linked to Al-Qaeda and was accused of carrying out deadly bombings and mass kidnappings for ransom, including three Americans, one of whom was beheaded and another shot and killed in a Philippine army rescue.
The killing of a Filipino transgender woman by a US Marine in 2014, which left-wing organisations have criticised as neo-colonialism, has only increased domestic opposition to the US presence in the Philippines, according to Wong.
Bacarro claimed that the US has allegedly requested access for its forces in two local military encampments. The governor of the northern Cagayan province, Manuel Mamba, has vowed to oppose such an American military presence. Cagayan, which is situated on the northernmost point of the main Luzon island, is separated from Taiwan, the Taiwan Strait, and southern China by a slender sea border.
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It will be extremely risky for us. The Philippines could be targeted by nuclear weapons if the conflict over Taiwan escalates, Mamba told the AP over the phone. "If they stay here, whoever is their enemy will become our enemy," he added. The Americans who will be present, Mamba claimed, "cannot really dispel any assumption by anyone that the Philippines has a nuclear capability.
