A new defence pact that will allow thousands of US troops to be temporarily based in Philippines for the first time in more than 20 years signals closer cooperation in the allies' hot-and-cold relationship that has been shaped over the decades by war, terrorism and now, jitters over China's rise.
The 10-year agreement, signed yesterday as President Barack Obama arrived in Manila, was considered the centerpiece of his four-nation Asian trip, which Obama used to reassure allies like Japan and the Philippines of American military backing as they wrangle with China in increasingly tense territorial disputes.
Obama said the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement showed that Manila and Washington have emerged from a rough period in their alliance.
"We're here in the Philippines signing a defense agreement," he said at a news conference with President Benigno Aquino III at the presidential palace.
"Ten years ago, 15 years ago, there was enormous tensions around our defense relationship with the Philippines."
The pact will allow thousands of rotating batches of US forces to gain temporary access to mutually chosen Philippine military camps, paving the way for the largest US military deployment in the country since US bases here were closed in 1992.
It will also allow the US to station fighter jets, ships and surveillance equipment in the Philippines on a limited basis.
China's growing military might and assertiveness in the region has helped bring the two nations closer together.
The Philippines has struggled to bolster its territorial defense amid disputes with China, including the Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground off the northwestern Philippines that Beijing took effective control of in 2012.
Chinese coast guard ships last year surrounded another contested offshore territory, the Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino marines are manning a rusty, grounded ship.
Obama said the defense agreement was not meant to counter China but to promote peace and stability in Asia amid a much-touted "pivot" by Washington to the Pacific. But he made it clear the US would honor its commitment to defend Manila under a 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty.
"Let me be absolutely clear," Obama said at a Philippine army gymnasium Tuesday, standing in front of an assembly of American and Filipino soldiers in combat uniform. "Our commitment to defend the Philippines is ironclad.
