The Philippines would accept increased US military presence on its territory to help defend its interests and ensure peace in the region, amid rising tensions with China.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Friday said that Manila wanted more joint exercises with its former colonial ruler and to have a greater number of US troops rotating through the Philippines.

“It is to our definite advantage to be exploring how to maximize our treaty alliance with the United States in ways that would be mutually acceptable and beneficial,” del Rosario added in a statement.

He did not specifically name China as driving the push of Philippine President Benigno Aquino 3rd for the greater US military presence but he highlighted “territorial disputes.”

But del Rosario, a former Philippine ambassador to Washington, assured that any agreements and actions to be entered into with the United States “will be consistent with our treaty obligations and in accordance with Philippine laws and the Constitution.”

Philippine laws ban any foreign troops from being permanently based in the country.

Manila has been locked in a decades-long dispute with Beijing over competing claims to the South China Sea, or West Philippine Sea, but the tensions escalated during the past year over what Manila considers increasing Chinese bullying.

Del Rosario said that the increased US military presence could include “planning more joint exercises to promote inter-operability and a rotating and more frequent presence by them.”

“Such cooperative efforts would as well result in achieving a balance of influence to ensure peace, stability and economic development in the region,” he added.

The United States had large military bases in the Philippines until 1992 but was forced to abandon them after Filipino senators voted to kick them out.

A rotating force of about 600 US troops, however, has been stationed in the country’s southern Mindanao region for the past decade, training local soldiers on how to combat Islamic militants.

Del Rosario’s statement expanded on comments by US State Department officials in Washington on Thursday, who said that the two countries were involved in talks this week on increasing military cooperation.

US President Barack Obama last year highlighted a shifting defense strategy with a greater military focus on Asia, where China’s new assertiveness has rattled Washington’s allies.

In November, the United States said that it would deploy up to 2,500 Marines to northern Australia.

During the talks in the US capital, senior US and Philippine officials discussed increased military cooperation on Thursday as Washington seeks to reassure Asian allies anxious about an assertive China.

The talks are set against a backdrop of plans for greater US military cooperation with the Philippines, Singapore and Australia as Washington adopts a new defense posture for Southeast Asia.

US State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said that the discussion at the State Department built on points Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made when she visited Manila last November.

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy met Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Erlinda Basilio and Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Nuland added.

The talks are set to continue through Friday.

“This will be a chance for . . . Lavoy to brief Philippine counterparts on the new defense strategy . . . and also to talk about how we can work together to build capacity, increase training, increase cooperation in line with that,” Nuland said.

She recalled that Clinton, when she visited Manila, backed enhanced military cooperation with the Philippines while stressing that Washington did not aim to re-establish military bases or deploy forces permanently there.

The United States has been increasingly vocal about defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions over territorial disputes between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations have been on the rise.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, presenting a US budget proposal that would cut the size of the Army, said that the United States was committed to focusing on Asia.

“We have a good relationship with the Philippines, including a good security relationship, and we intend and wish to build on that in the future,” Carter told reporters.

In an academic article forecasting the shape of the US Navy in 2025, Admiral Jonathan Greenert said that the United States expected to station several combat ships in Singapore and might step up deployments to the Philippines and Thailand.

The chief of naval operations added that Washington might also step up the periodic deployment of aircraft such as the P-8A Poseidon—which is being developed to track submarines—to regional treaty allies Manila and Bangkok.

In November, the United States said that it would deploy up to 2,500 Marines to northern Australia and tighten air-force cooperation, sparking concern from China.

Some 70,000 US troops are stationed in Japan and South Korea under long-standing alliances.
In Manila, leftist lawmakers also on Friday opposed the reported plan of the United States to expand its military presence in the Philippines, including stationing of Navy ships on a temporary basis and holding of war games.

But its Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin also on Friday allayed fears on the increased US military presence in the Philippines, saying that such expansion would be covered by the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries.

With reports from Bernice Camille V. Bauzon And Ruben D. Manahan 4th