U.S. and Philippine officials announced new programs to enhance their defense and security cooperation this week, which includes $500 million of foreign military financing from Washington to help the Philippine military and coast guard improve their territorial defense missions.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Tony Blinken joined their Philippine counterparts, Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, for the fourth Philippine-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue this week in Manila.
“We are poised to deliver a once-in-a-generation investment to help modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard. We’re working with the U.S. Congress to allocate $500 million in Foreign Military Financing to the Philippines,” Austin said.
“This level of funding is unprecedented, and it sends a clear message of support for the Philippines from the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. Congres and the American people.”
The $500 million investment into the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard will be guided by a bilateral working group and the Philippines-Security Sector Assistance Roadmap. Through the committee and roadmap, the two countries want to find gaps in Philippine forces to prioritize defense investments and procurements. While Manila committed to a 15-year-long military modernization program in 2012, lack of funds, political incentives and the COVID-19 pandemic have hampered efforts to reorient the country’s military to external security operations.
The security roadmap will “inform the delivery of priority platforms over the next five to ten years,” reads a statement from the AFP. Neither U.S. nor the Philippines mentioned specifics on what capabilities would be prioritized. In the past, Manila has highlighted the need for more warships and new fighter jets as it prepares for the next phase of its modernization program.
Austin said the Pentagon would double its investment into military bases across the Philippines designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Under this year’s budgetary request, $128 million has been slated for the nine sites cleared to host U.S. troops and American-funded projects. Washington’s investment into these bases has prioritized the building of airfield infrastructure, with Basa Air Base receiving the lion’s share of funding to date. It was also announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development will use one of these sites to host humanitarian supplies to “rapidly provide humanitarian assistance in times of need.”
The high-ranking meeting came on the heels of a severe incident on June 17 between Philippine and Chinese forces at the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed South China Sea feature claimed by both countries. Beijing began to disrupt Philippine resupply missions to the shoal last summer using water cannons, long-range acoustic devices, rammings, blocking maneuvers and boarding actions against Philippine Coast Guard patrol boats and Navy-operated vessels. In response to these tensions, the Philippines has stepped up security cooperation with foreign partners, including Japan, Australia and the U.S.
Blinken called out China’s behavior in the region, highlighting Beijing’s “escalatory actions in the South China Sea” and his exchange with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos this month regarding a recently announced agreement on the resupply of BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) at Second Thomas Shoal.
“China must uphold its commitments to not obstruct the Philippines in their resupply missions,” Blinken said.
