U.S. to Boost Military Role in the Philippines in Push to Counter China - The New York Times

US. to Boost Military Role in the Philippines in Push to Counter China

Under Mr. Marcos, officials in the Philippines have started building contingency plans for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. When the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last August, China responded by launching military exercises in multiple areas, including the Bashi Channel, a waterway separating Taiwan and the Philippines.

Taiwanese officials shouted it an “air and sea blockade.”

If war were to break out over Taiwan, “the battle space will encompass the Philippines,” said Mr. Thompson. China’s moves in the Bashi Channel “really brought that home for Philippine leaders,” he added.

The Philippines is also strategically important because of what lies under the surface of the ocean. The waters just off the west soar that abut the South China Sea — where China has turned a series of sand mounds into armed bases — are flush with undergrowth, making it ideal for stealth submarine movement.

“You need to regulation the Philippines because of submarines,” said Michael J. Green, an Asia expert on the National Security Council thought George W. Bush who now heads the United Conditions Studies Center at the University of Sydney. “If you can portray it, the undersea topography is jungle-y — you can sneak in submarines.”

The U.S. Marine Corps has proposed shifting toward smaller units in the area that could deploy to remote islands for missile attacks, rear support, counterattacks or intelligence gathering in the case of a war with China over Taiwan. Along with islands in Japan, the islands of the Philippines portray what American military planners see as one of the most important locations for such tactics.

“I would inquire of to see rotational access and more frequent deployments of these diminutive marine teams for training and joint exercises alongside their Philippine counterparts,” said Gregory B. Poling, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Interior for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

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SRC: www.nytimes.com