Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
US Wins Expanded Access to Philippine Bases Amid China
Tensions
Andreo Calonzo and Cecilia Yap
Thu, February 2, 2023 at 12:16 a.m. PST
(Bloomberg) -- The US secured access to more Philippine
military bases, clearing the way for a greater American presence in the
Asia-Pacific region as tensions with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea
persist.
The announcement Thursday of a plan to designate four new
locations in “strategic areas” where the US will have expanded access didn’t
mention China. Instead, it said the new sites — to be identified later — “will
allow more rapid support for humanitarian and climate-related disasters in the
Philippines, and respond to other shared challenges.”
But a key shared challenge the two allies have is China, given Beijing’s increasingly assertive claims to a wide swath of the South China Sea, including islands and reefs Manila sees as its own. Chinese ships have regularly been seen trailing Philippine fishing vessels, often intercepting them and forcing them to divert from contested areas long seen as within the country’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.
“It is a really big deal,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday at a news conference alongside Philippine Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez. “This is an opportunity to increase our effectiveness and interoperability. It is not about permanent basing.”
Three Philippine bases near Taiwan - two in the northern province of Cagayan and one in Isabela province - in addition to one in Palawan near the South China Sea, are among the new sites that are being considered where US forces may gain greater access, a former Philippines military chief said in November.
Chinese Patrols in Disputed Sea Hit New Peak as Tensions Climb
That would mark a strategic victory for the Biden administration, which is readjusting its force presence in region and has sought to rebuild previously strained ties between the US and the Philippines after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office last year.
The move jump starts US-Philippines collaboration in responding to China’s “harassment of Filipino economic activities along its EEZ” and will “address the blockade thrown around Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoals by Chinese Coast Guard and militia,” said Rommel Ong, a retired rear admiral in the Philippine Navy who is now a professor at Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Government.
China criticized the announcement as another examples of the US’s “Cold War, zero-sum mentality.”
“This is an act that escalates tensions in the region and is dangerous to regional peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Thursday at a regular press briefing in Beijing. “Regional countries should remain vigilant about this and avoid being used by the US.”
The announcement comes after the US last week confirmed that starting in 2024 it would be relocating thousands of Marines based in Japan to a reactivated facility in Guam, a move seen as part of a wider effort to disperse American forces in the Pacific to help it better confront China in case of a crisis.
“Our nations share the belief that sustainable development and genuine peace should go hand in hand,” Philippine Defense Secretary Galvez said at news conference with Austin. The two defense chiefs agreed to “deepen bilateral cooperation to support the Philippine defense capability needs as well as the Philippine-US alliance,” he said.
Austin is the latest senior US official to visit after Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made trips to Manila in recent months and assured the Philippines of support. The US has a seven-decades-old mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, its former colony.
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President Marcos has sought greater political and economic cooperation with Washington. Early in his presidency, Marcos said he couldn’t envision his nation’s future without the US. He also recently said that he hopes Washington will maintain its South China Sea presence, a sore point with Beijing.
Marcos, who also met with Austin on Thursday, said the US has pledged to help the Philippines modernize its defense capabilities. He said “the future of the Philippines and, for that matter, the Asia Pacific will always have to involve the United States.”
Translation
（彭博社）- 隨著與中國在台灣和南中國海問題上的緊張局勢持續存在之際，美國獲得了更多菲律賓軍事基地的使用權，為美國在亞太地區清理出更多通道。
週四宣布的一項計劃是在美國將擴大進出的 “戰略區域” 指定出四個新地點，但並未提及中國。 相反，它說新地點 - 將會稍後確定 - “將允許更迅速地支持菲律賓的人道主義和氣候相關災難，並應對其他共同挑戰。”
但這兩個盟友共同面臨的一個關鍵挑戰是中國，因為北京對南海大片海域的主權越來越強硬，包括馬尼拉認為屬於自己的島嶼和礁石。 人們經常看到中國船隻尾隨菲律賓漁船，經常攔截它們並迫使它們避開被該國長期視為自己專屬經濟區 (EEZ) 內有爭議的區域。
美國國防部長奧斯汀週四在與菲律賓國防部長 Carlito Galvez 一起舉行的新聞發布會上: “這真的是一件大事”; “這是提高我們的效率和互操作性的機會。 這與永久基地無關。”
根據 2014 年簽署的加強防務合作協議，該協議將使美國可以進入的軍事基地總數達到 9 個，其中包括 5 個現有軍事基地。該協議允許美國輪換其部隊以長期停留，並在這個東南亞國家的些基地上建造和運營設施。
前菲律賓軍事首長在 11 月表示, 三個菲律賓基地在台灣的附近- 兩個在北部的卡加延省和一個在伊莎貝拉省 - 以及一個在靠近南中國海的巴拉望島, 是正在考慮的新地點，美國軍隊可能會在這些地點獲得更大的進入權。
隨著緊張局勢升級，中國在有爭議海域的巡邏達到新高峰
這將標誌著拜登政府取得戰略性勝利，拜登政府正在重新調整其在該地區的軍事存在，並尋求重建美國和菲律賓總統小馬科斯在去年上任後之前的緊張關係。
菲律賓海軍退役海軍少將 Rommel Ong，現任 Ateneo de Manila University 政府學院教授說: “此舉開啟了美菲合作應對中國 “騷擾菲律賓專屬經濟區沿線的菲律賓經濟活動”; 並將 “解決中國海岸警衛隊和民兵在 Scarborough 和仁愛礁周圍實施的封鎖” 。
中國批評該聲明是美國 “冷戰、零和思維” 的又一例證。
中國外交部發言人毛寧週四在北京舉行的例行新聞發布會上說： “這是加劇地區緊張局勢、危害地區和平與穩定的行為”; “地區國家應對此保持警惕，避免被美國利用。”
該公告發布之前, 美國上週證實從 2024 年開始，它將把駐紮在日本的數千名海軍陸戰隊員重新部署到關島的一個重新啟用的設施，此舉被視為更廣泛部處的一部分，旨在分散太平洋地區的美軍，以更好地幫助美國 遇到危機時與中國對抗。
週四，美國和菲律賓還同意實質地完成五個現有軍事基地的項目，包括位於靠近南中國海的巴拉望省的一個基地。 美國已撥款超過 8,200 萬美元用於這五個地點的基礎設施投資。
菲律賓國防部長Galvez在與奧斯汀舉行的新聞發布會上說： “我們各國都相信可持續發展與真正的和平應該牽手並進。” 他說, 兩位國防部長同意 “深化雙邊合作，以支持菲律賓的國防能力需求以及菲美聯盟” 。
奧斯汀是繼副總統賀錦麗,和國務卿布林肯在最近幾個月訪問馬尼拉並向菲律賓保證支持後，最新一位訪問的美國高級官員。 美國與其前殖民地菲律賓, 有簽訂長達七十年的共同防禦條約。
美國、菲律賓將就核電技術共享協定進行談判
馬科斯總統尋求與華盛頓加強政治和經濟合作。 在擔任總統初期，馬科斯表示他無法想像沒有美國的菲律賓未來。 他最近還表示，他希望華盛頓保持在南中國海出現，這是北京的痛處。
週四也與奧斯汀會面的馬科斯表示，美國已承諾幫助菲律賓實現國防能力現代化。他說： “菲律賓的未來，就此問題而引伸，亞太地區的未來將始終需要美國的參與。”
So, the key common challenge to the
Philippines and the US is China’s increasingly assertive posture in claiming a
wide area of the South China Sea, including islands and reefs that Manila sees them
as its own. It is China’s behavior that forces the Philippines to move closer
to the US.
The Ateneo de Manila University, also known simply as
the Ateneo de Manila, the Ateneo, or AdMU, is a private, research, basic and
higher education institution along the historic Katipunan Avenue in Quezon
City, Philippines. Considered to be the top university in the Philippines,
Ateneo topped among that country's best universities several times. It offers
professional degrees through the Graduate School of Business, the School of
Government, the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the Ateneo Law
School. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateneo_de_Manila_University)
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