‘Unprecedented’: US pledges US$500 million in military aid to Manila, risking Beijing’s ire

Blinken and Austin held their annual 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue at Camp Aguinaldo with Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo and Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro. During the meeting, they discussed a wide range of security issues and announced Washington’s new military funding package for Manila.

“We’re now allocating an additional US$500 million in foreign military financing to the Philippines to boost security collaboration with our oldest treaty ally in this region,” Blinken told a joint news conference.

Blinken called it as a “once in a generation investment” to help modernise the Philippine military and coastguard.

Secretary Austin said, “This level of funding is unprecedented and it sends a clear message of support for the Philippines from the Biden-Harris administration, the US Congress and the American people.”

The US officials said about US$125 million would be allocated to the construction and improvement of Philippine military bases that Manila has allowed US troops to be stationed at under the two countries’ Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement.

Edmund Tayao, president and CEO of the Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists think tank, told This Week in Asia that Blinken and Austin’s visit represented concrete proof of Washington’s commitment to Manila as a security partner.

“This visit is only the latest of what has been a series of regular high profile visits by US officials. This is a very strong statement of support which could only be topped by the US coming to our aid when the frightening possibility of aggression actually happens,” Edmund Tayao, president and CEO of the Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists think tank, told This Week in Asia.

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