Philippines announces four more military bases US troops can use

MANILA: The Philippines announced Monday the location of four additional military bases to be used by US troops, with one site near the hotly disputed South China Sea and another not far from Taiwan.

The longtime treaty allies agreed in February to expand cooperation in “strategic areas” of the Philippines as they seek to counter China’s growing assertiveness over self-governed Taiwan and the building of Chinese bases in the South China Sea.

The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, known as EDCA, gave US forces access to five Philippine bases. It was expanded to nine, but the locations of the four additional bases were withheld until Monday while the government consulted with local officials.

The four sites had been assessed by the Philippine military and deemed “suitable and mutually beneficial”, the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement.

It said the bases would also be used for humanitarian and relief operations during disasters. The US Department of Defense confirmed that the locations announced by the palace were the four new EDCA sites.

It also announced in a statement it would add to the “$82 million we have already allocated toward infrastructure investments at the existing EDCA sites”, without specifying by how much.

Three of the sites are in the northern Philippines, including a naval base and airport in Cagayan province and an army camp in the neighbouring province of Isabela, the Philippine statement said.

The naval base at Cagayan’s Santa Ana is about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Taiwan. Another site will be an air base on Balabac Island, off the southern tip of Palawan Island, near the South China Sea.

Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba has publicly opposed having EDCA sites in his province for fear of jeopardising Chinese investment and becoming a target in a conflict over Taiwan.

But Philippine acting defence chief Carlito Galvez told reporters recently the government had already decided on the sites and that Mamba had agreed to “abide with the decision”.