US President Barack Obama visited the Philippines for two days, which served as the last stop for his 4-Asia country state visit. During his speech alongside with Philippine president Benigno Aquino III, President Obama emphasized that containing China is not part of the goal of the United States when it entered the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the country.
“The goal for this agreement is to build Philippine capacity to engage in training, engage in coordination, not simply to deal with issues of maritime security, but also to enhance our capabilities so that if there is a natural disaster that takes place we can respond quickly,” Obama said, who arrived in Manila on Monday at around 1:30 p.m. (Manila time) and left the country on Tuesday. He earlier visited Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia.
“Our goal is not to counter China; our goal is not to contain China. Our goal is to make sure that international rules and norms are respected, and that includes the area of maritime disputes,” the U.S. president added, noting that a new U.S Military base will not be established in the Philippines. President Aquino, who joined Obama in the press conference, said the deal was to promote “regional peace and security.”
The 10-year EDCA deal was signed by U.S. Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg and Philippines’ Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Monday morning, just hours before Obama arrived in Manila boarding Air Force One. The agreement, which both countries spent eight months to negotiate, allows American troops, planes, and warships to have access within the Philippine military facilities.
Meanwhile, China is not pleased with the agreement. In a report at Chinese news site Xinhua, China said that the move is “particularly disturbing” adding that the Philippines is a “troublemaker in the South China Sea.” It also warned the United States that the deal may backfire on them. Some Philippine lawmakers are also questioning the legality of the EDCA, which was not concurred in Congress.
China and the Philippines have a long-time maritime dispute over some areas in the West Philippine Sea such as Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands. On the other hand, the U.S. military bases in the Philippines were shut down in 1991, but a deal called Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) was ratified in 1999, allowing U.S. forces to conduct military combat exercises with Filipino counterparts.
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