U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visits the Philippines this week in the Biden administration's latest high-level engagement with America's oldest Asian ally and an increasingly vital strategic partner as tensions rise with China over Taiwan.
How does the country fit into U.S. planning for a possible conflict over Taiwan?
Experts such as Randall Schriver, who served in the Trump administration as the top Pentagon official for East Asia, said Luzon is of great interest to the U.S. Army, in particular, as a potential location for rockets, missiles and artillery systems that could be used to counter an amphibious invasion of Taiwan.
Washington has carefully courted Marcos and Harris's visit follows two meetings between President Joe Biden and Marcos and a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Manila in August.with an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that dates back to Obama's presidency and that languished under Duterte. EDCA allows U.S.
The United States has proposed adding five more EDCA sites to the current five. Southeast Asia expert Gregory Poling at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies said Harris's trip could bring an announcement of an agreement.Poling believes it would be extremely difficult for the Philippines to remain neutral in a Taiwan conflict given its proximity to the island and its treaty obligations to the United States.
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