Facing China, the United States counter-offensive in the Pacific

“The United States is increasing its military presence in the Philippines by gaining access to four additional sites, reports The New York Times Thursday, February 2. They thus reinforce the role of this Southeast Asian country as a crucial strategic partner in the event of a conflict with China over Taiwan.”

With the agreement announced on Thursday, the United States will have a military presence unequaled for thirty years in the Philippines, indicates the newspaper, which underlines that Washington “trying to reassert its influence in the region”.

Territory controlled by Washington at the beginning of the XX^e century, the Philippines has been a longtime and particularly important ally, with its northernmost island, Itbayat, less than 150 kilometers from Taiwan, adds The New York Times. The United States is preparing for the possibility of an offensive by the Chinese communist regime against Taiwan, an island where Chinese nationalists had taken refuge in 1949 and which Beijing considers renegade.

Negotiations with several Micronesian countries

The Philippines’ relations with Washington had deteriorated under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, who had become closer to