US could increase Pacific presence with return to the Philippines

Twenty years after the US pulled out of its military bases in the Philippines, Washington is in talks with Manila about once again permanently basing ships and soldiers in the Southeast Asian nation.

American troops were a permanent presence in the Philippines for almost a century until 1992  

Alarmed by China's increasingly aggressive posturing over territorial disputes and energy rights in the South China Sea, officials from Philippines are holding talks today and tomorrow in the US capital about the possibility of US Navy ships operating out of the Philippines in the future. More joint exercises between the two countries and the deployment of American ground troops are also being discussed.

Following the announcements late last year that US marines will be based in Darwin, Australia and US navy ships stationed in Singapore, the news that the Pentagon is contemplating a return to the Philippines is certain to anger Beijing. While there has been no immediate reaction from China, Beijing has already protested about the plan to increase the presence of US forces in the region, which it sees as an attempt both to encircle it and to counter its influence in southeast Asia. America already has large bases in Japan and South Korea.

While a final decision will be made in March, the proposed return to the Philippines is the first concrete indication of the US's future strategic priorities since President Obama announced plans three weeks ago to streamline the US armed forces. In his January 5 speech, President Obama spoke of a shift in focus towards the Asia-Pacific region, which has been ignored in recent years as Washington concentrated on the Middle East and Afghanistan.

That has allowed China to assert its own presence in the area and in particular in the South China Sea, much to the concern of its weaker neighbours. China insists it has sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands, which a number of countries including the Philippines claim as their own. The Spratlys are believed to be rich in natural gas and oil deposits coveted by Beijing.

Tensions over the islands have been rising steadily over the last year with a number of clashes between Chinese patrol boats and vessels from the Philippines and Vietnam. In September, Filipino President Benigno Aquino announced the South China Sea was being renamed the West Philippine Sea in an effort to reinforce its claim to the Spratlys.

With China preparing to deploy its first aircraft carrier, Manila is keen to have a US military presence in the Philippines as a deterrent to the might of the Chinese navy. "We can point to other countries; Japan, Australia, Singapore," a Philippines official involved in the Washington talks told a US newspaper anonymously. "We're not the only ones doing this, and for good reason. No wants to have to face China, or confront China."
American troops were a permanent presence in the Philippines for almost a century until 1992, when the giant Subic Bay naval base was shut after local lawmakers refused to renew the lease on the land. Since 2002, around 600 US Special Forces troops have been deployed to the Philippines to assist in the fight against a long-running Muslim insurgency on the southern island of Mindanao.