In this July 2013 photo, the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 88) is underway in the Philippine Sea. Lassen recently sailed near China's artificial island on Subi Reef in the disputed sea, US defense officials said on Tuesday. US Navy/Declan Barnes/Released, File
The Philippines has again thumbed its nose at the US, its longtime defense ally, saying it won't be used as a springboard for US ships and planes conducting operations that challenge China in the South China Sea.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the Philippines will not allow its territory to be used as a staging ground for US patrols — a possible departure from the current policy that allows US aircraft, ships and submarines access to designated Philippine military bases under a 2014 defense agreement.
Lorenzana said US ships and planes can use Guam or Okinawa in Japan for South China Sea missions. But he said they can still refuel and resupply in the Philippines after conducting such maneuvers, not before.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said she could not comment on Lorenzana's remarks as she hadn't seen them, but added: "Our adherence to freedom of navigation is well known. You know, we will fly, we will sail anywhere within international waters and we will continue that."
Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza, the commander of the US Army's I Corps who leads international military exercises in the Pacific, said that the US military was prepared to change next year's joint exercises with the Philippines to humanitarian and disaster relief training.
"If we change the training, we would probably look at putting a different force and a different capability in the Philippines versus the initial one that had been planned to go there," he told Voice of America, referring to the initial focus on the Philippines' territorial defense.
President Rodrigo Duterte has reached out to China to try to smooth over the territorial disputes. He also said he wants to scale back the Philippines' military engagements with the US, including scuttling a plan to carry out joint patrols with the US Navy in the disputed waters, which he said China opposes.
But Manila still continues to rely on Washington. On Friday, the Philippine navy took delivery of a third frigate decommissioned from the US Coast Guard.
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