WASHINGTON - At a summit on Monday, US President Joe Biden and Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr are expected to reach agreements on greater business engagement, as well as “military enhancements” amid shared concerns about China, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters.
“We will roll out some deliverables during the next week that will highlight business engagement but also some military enhancements as well,” he said on Saturday. “We’re seeking not to be provocative, but to provide both moral and practical support for the Philippines as they try to make their way in a complex Western Pacific,” the official said.Experts say Washington sees the Philippines as a potential location for rockets, missiles and artillery systems to counter a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the first combined meeting of top US and Philippines defence officials earlier this month that it was “too early” to discuss what assets the US would like to station at bases in the Philippines.It is a delicate issue for Manila, not only because of its concerns about China, its main trading partner, but given domestic opposition to US military presence in the past.
“It is an attempt to build a new relationship that will obviously have important security elements, but... the idea and goal while President Marcos is in town is to demonstrate other elements.”