US secures deal on bases to complete arc around China Published 1 hour ago

[Social Media]

The US has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines - a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

With this deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc of US alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south.

The missing link had been the Philippines, which borders two of the biggest potential flashpoints, Taiwan and the South China Sea, or the West Philippine Sea as Manila insists on calling it.

The US already had limited access to five sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) - the new additions and expanded access, according to a statement from Washington, will "allow more rapid support for humanitarian and climate-related disasters in the Philippines, and respond to other shared challenges", likely a veiled reference to countering China in the region.

[Rimmer]

Doesn't say what bases exactly but my guess they could include Clarke airbase and the deepwater port of Subic bay