US pledges $500 million in new military aid to the Philippines, as China asserts sea claims

MANILA, Philippines — The Biden administration announced Tuesday an additional $500 million of military aid to the Philippines, further bolstering the defense alliance between the two nations while the Philippine military is grappling with aggressive actions by Chinese ships in the South China Sea.

The U.S. and Philippine governments have deepened their military alliance since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became president of the Philippines two years ago.

Marcos, who lived in Hawaii while his family was in political exile and has met President Joe Biden one-on-one multiple times since taking office, hosted a meeting Tuesday of the top diplomatic and military officials from both nations in Manila. It was the first time that such a so-called 2+2 session between the allied nations has taken place in the Philippines.

Biden has made alliance-building a hallmark of his foreign policy, especially in Europe and Asia, where different sets of alliances are aimed at countering or deterring military action by two nuclear-armed superpowers that are partners with each other — Russia and China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Manila on Monday night as part of a diplomatic mission to the Indo-Pacific region.

The backdrop of the talks in Manila was a fraught one: Not only have Chinese coast guard vessels carried out more hostile actions against Philippine naval ships in recent months in the South China Sea, but Marcos and other Asian leaders are wondering who will take over from Biden as the U.S. president next January. Will it be Kamala Harris, the current vice president and presumed Democratic nominee, or Donald Trump, the former president who says U.S. military alliances are a waste of resources?

At an afternoon news conference with Austin and with their Philippine counterparts at Camp Aguinaldo, the headquarters of the Philippine military, Blinken highlighted the $500 million in additional military aid and said it would be used for helping to modernize the Philippine military and the coast guard.

It is in the South China Sea where tensions between the Philippines and China are the most heated. For months, Chinese coast guard vessels tried to keep Philippine naval ships from bringing supplies to marines posted at the Sierra Madre, a grounded ship on the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef. China and the Philippines claim the area as their territory.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2024 The New York Times Company