![]() Such sites were valuable for two reasons, said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center, Honolulu. ![]() It has been widely reported that the US asked for access to bases on Luzon, the closest part of the Philippines to Taiwan, and on the island of Palawan, the closest landmass to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The announcement was made during a visit to Manila by the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, who was scheduled to hold talks with his Philippine counterpart, Carlito Galvez Jr, and national security adviser, Eduardo Año, as well as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In Chinese state media, coverage focused on assessments that the US was expanding its military footprint in the region “to counter China”, and that the Philippines should take care in balancing its relationships with both countries. ![]() Mao Ning accused the US of “exacerbating regional tension and jeopardising regional peace and stability”, and said other countries in the region should be wary of being “taken advantage of” by the US. China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson told a regular press briefing on Thursday the US was strengthening its military deployment in the region “out of its own selfish interests and with a zero-sum mentality”.
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