The increased air and naval presence of the United States in Southeast Asia, especially with littoral South China Sea states such as the Philippines, will reassure friends and allies and indicate that America is committed to a long-term posture in the region dedicated to improving the maritime security, a former high-ranking US Navy official said.
Rear Admiral (retired) Michael McDevitt, now a respected strategic and defense policy expert, pointed out that America’s access agreement with the Philippines is particularly important because it facilitates routine US military presence in Southeast Asia.
“Being ‘present’ in a geographic sense equates to proximity,” McDevitt wrote in an article published this week by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. “In turn, proximity yields influence and options.”
“It also reassures friends and allies in the region that the United States has not militarily ‘abandoned’ South China Sea to the PLA (People’s Liberation Army, China’s military),” he added.
The former Commandant of the National War College in Washington, D.C. further noted that President Barack Obama’s administration recognizes the importance of access for US military presence in Southeast Asia by improving the long standing access agreement with the Philippines.
Of equal significance, McDevitt said, is the plan to increase US rotational presence in the Philippines.
He cited the April 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between Washington and Manila. This agreement, which will be in force for 10 years, will permit US forces to have extensive access to Philippine military facilities, including the former US air and naval facilities at Clark air base and Subic Bay naval base. The EDCA also includes in its charter US support for the long-term modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), with the goal of putting a place a “minimum credible defense.”
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