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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Pentagon chief says PH-US military alliance 'beginning of evolution'

Pentagon chief says PH-US military alliance 'beginning of evolution'

Published Aug 1, 2024 06:09 am

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said it is only the "beginning of the evolution" of the Philippines-US military alliance as it will soon tie up with other allies to bolster such partnership.

"We're at the very beginning of this evolution and we'll work with our Japanese counterparts to see how to evolve things as we go forward," Austin said as he concluded his Indo-Pacific trip with a visit to Subic Bay on Wednesday, July 31.

Part of Austin's visit to Indo-Pacom was a similar 2+2 dialogue in Tokyo, with Japanese counterparts, where the US announced it would transition US Forces Japan, or USFJ, to a joint force headquarters.
The new joint force headquarters will be commanded by a three-star officer and will serve as a counterpart to Japan's own Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command. 

He said the three-star command in the Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command will be focused on Japanese forces.

Austin noted the conversion of the USFJ to a joint force headquarters will provide greater control over planning combined missions with Japanese forces. With the conversion, it is also expected the headquarters will retain its name, USFJ, and its three-star leadership.

And the fact that the Philippines and the US are working together "will give us a lot greater agility and get a lot more capability, quite frankly," the Pentagon chief said.

He made the pronouncement following the unprecedented $500-million US military aid granted to the Philippines that help will modernize its military and the coast guard.

In Subic, Austin toured a Philippine Navy facility and several defense industrial sites to highlight opportunities there for defense industrial cooperation by the United States, the Philippines, and other regional allies and partners.

"This is a really transformative time for our relationship, our alliance here," Austin said.

"You've seen us announce a number of key initiatives... today we saw some of our industrial base companies out here working together to create additional capability, and that's also very, very exciting," he added.

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MILITARY AID US-PH alliance LLOYD AUSTIN
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