Posted on 08/30/2023 8:04:49 PM PDT by 11th_VA
MANILA – The U.S. military is in talks to develop a civilian port in the remote northernmost islands of the Philippines, the local governor and two other officials told Reuters, a move that would boost American access to strategically located islands facing Taiwan. U.S. military involvement in the proposed port in the Batanes islands, less than 200 kilometer from Taiwan, could stoke tensions at a time of growing friction with China and a drive by Washington to intensify its longstanding defense treaty engagement with the Philippines.
The Bashi Channel between those islands and Taiwan is considered a choke point for vessels moving between the western Pacific and the contested South China Sea and a key waterway in the case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese military regularly sends ships and aircraft through the channel, Taiwan's defense ministry has said.
Marilou Cayco, the provincial governor of the Batanes islands, said in a message that she had sought funding from the U.S. for the building of an "an alternative port" there, which was intended to assist the unloading of cargo from the capital, Manila, during rough seas in the monsoon season.
She said the plans were to build a port on Basco island, where local authorities say high waves often make the existing port inaccessible, and that a decision could be made in October.
The Philippines has in the past year almost doubled the number of its military bases that U.S. forces can access, ostensibly for humanitarian assistance, and also has thousands of U.S. troops in the country at any given time, rotating in and out for joint training exercises. China has said these U.S. moves were "stoking the fire" of regional tensions.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment ...
(Excerpt) Read more at japantimes.co.jp ...
Yea, more war. Africa already has dibs on next…
We left Subic Bay in the 90s, right? Now we’re going back?
This place sounds more like Diego Garcia … not much fun
It would appear as such. It is facing Taiwan.
So we closed down Subic for nothing?
Left? We were thrown out in 1992.
wy69
Yeah the Philippines for far too long, seemed (too) neutral.
It was a long time coming, but at last the PI began to let America help them out just a bit, once again.
“...began to let America help them out just a bit, once again.”
As long as it doesn’t turn into a welfare case like so many of our partners it might work out. But when it didn’t many years ago, they threw us out like yesterday’s bathwater. Will history repeat itself? That’s the gamble we take.
wy69
Try reading the article.
On second thought, don’t bother.
Heh, heh.
Wasn’t it destroyed by a typhoon also?
Eruption, typhoon, looting and vandalism if memory serves?
I may be wrong about portions of it, but yeah.
I’m thinking now I remember some sort of catastrophic natural disaster followed by extreme and thorough looting of what remained.
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