Marcos Jr cashing in on US while cooling fire with China

MANILA – Marking a first, the Philippines hosted “two-plus-two” talks between American and Filipino defense and diplomatic chiefs.

By all indications, the high-level meeting among US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Philippine defense chief Gilberto Teodoro and Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo was the most consequential of its kind yet.

The US agreed to provide US$500 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and defense aid to accelerate Philippine military and coast guard modernization as well as fortify the Pentagon’s presence in various Philippine military facilities under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

The two allies also finalized a new General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), a vital intelligence-sharing pact similar to that between US allies Japan and South Korea.

The US billed its expanded aid package as a “once-in-a-generation investment” in the Philippines’ defensive capabilities, with both sides celebrating their alliance moving into a “hyperdrive” mode.

The high-profile summit came against the backdrop of heightened Philippine-China tensions in the South China Sea in recent months. Those tensions spiked when China forcibly disarmed Filipino servicemen during a resupply mission to the hotly contested Second Thomas Shoal.

For China, the Philippines is unwittingly or foolishly aiding a ‘proxy war’ that is part of an American-led containment strategy.

Far from fully aligning with the US against China, however, the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration has sought to keep relations with the Asian superpower on an even keel.

Ahead of the two-plus-two meeting, Manila and Beijing negotiated an interim agreement over the contested Second