By Mikhail Flores and Karen Lema
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines has no plans to give the United States access to more military bases, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Monday, after nearly doubling the number last year under a joint defense pact.
Beijing previously accused the Philippines of “stoking the fire” when it increased the number of bases the US military could use from five to nine, with the new sites located near potential flashpoints.
“The answer is no,” Marcos said in response to a question about whether the Philippines would allow the United States access to more bases.
“The Philippines has no plan to create more bases or give access to other bases,” he said in a forum with foreign correspondents.
Last year, Washington and Manila discussed further expanding the number of bases that US forces could access under the nine-year Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Three of the four sites faced north toward Taiwan and one was near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing have had frequent maritime clashes that included China’s use of water cannons and collision tactics.
US President Joe Biden, who hosted Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington last week in a first-of-its-kind three-way summit, has asked Congress for an additional $128 million for infrastructure projects at the nine EDCA sites .
The three leaders expressed “serious concerns” about China’s “dangerous and aggressive behavior” in the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual maritime trade claimed by China despite overlapping claims by other countries.
The cooperation between the three countries was not “directed against anyone or anyone,” Marcos told the forum, but was simply a strengthening of ties between them.
A deepening dispute between China and the Philippines has made it difficult for the latter to explore oil and gas in the South China Sea, despite an agreement between them to resume talks on joint exploration.
“When we say we would like to explore, they insist that these areas are in Chinese territory and therefore Chinese law must prevail,” Marcos said.
“We, of course, do not accept this. We say that this is Philippine territory and therefore Philippine law should prevail.”
He added: “I really don’t think we have an adequate agreement and it’s really about what law should apply.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping said last year that Beijing was willing to resume talks with the Philippines on potential joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.