President Barack Obama said a new military pact signed with the Philippines on Monday granting a larger presence for U.S. forces would bolster the Southeast Asian country’s maritime security, but was not aimed at countering China’s growing military might.
The agreement, which will have an initial 10-year term, was touted as the highlight of Obama’s first visit to the Philippines, the United States’ oldest ally in the region.
It sets the framework for a beefed-up rotation of U.S. troops, ships and warplanes through the Philippines, part of a rebalancing of U.S. resources towards fast-growing Asia and the Pacific.
But China interprets the move as an attempt to contain its increasing military capability and embolden Manila in a decades-long territorial dispute with Beijing.
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Rosemarie Francisco and Mark Felsenthal, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1nWk557
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