The United States has announced plans to deploy its cutting-edge​ missiles to the Philippines in the face of what both sides have ​said are illegal and deceptive activities ​being perpetrated by China in the South China Sea.

A joint statement released by Washington and Manila following their fourth bilateral strategic dialogue on Tuesday, Feb. 17, laid out their plans for the year 2026 that focused mainly on strengthening the alliance “to reestablish deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.”

Vowing to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific, the US and the Philippines said they would maintain ​"a vigilant posture​" in the region "to prevent conflict​" ​as well as to develop​ "strong measures along with the deterrence to keep sea lanes open and not subject​ to arbitrary control by one country.​"

Both sides ​then name-dropped China and condemned ​its ​"illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive activities in the South China Sea​."

​"Collective defense is critical to denying and deterring aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain," their statement read.

​As China continues to reportedly harass Filipino fishers in the South China Sea, particularly within the West Philippine Sea, the US and the Philippines recalled their military alliance—the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)—and emphasized that "armed attacks against either country​'s armed forces, aircraft, and public vessels – including those of their coast guards–anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea​" would invoke their treaty.

Washington and Manila also have plans to extend partnership with other nations, including Japan and Australia, in 2026.

This year, they said, the US will host the fifth 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue. They will also enhance joint capabilities, interoperability as well as "exercise execution for more realistic conditions to support readiness in contingencies, including support to civilian-led disaster response."

The US will also tap its funds from its Foreign Military Financing "to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard and enhance collective defense and deterrence"—two agencies in the frontline of Chinese aggression

The US will even help the Philippines in its capacity to monitor and respond to maritime challenges and illegal maritime activity, such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

It also vowed to "continue and work to increase deployments of US cutting-edge missile and unmanned systems to the Philippines" as well as "expand and modernize the Philippines’ civilian and military cyber defense capabilities and ability to detect and disrupt cyber threats."

The US and the Philippines also seemed to have touched a topic sensitive for Beijing.

In their statement, they reaffirmed "the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

​They also "strongly opposed any threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state​" as China warned that the Cross-strait relations is an internal affairs between them and Taiwan.

​They said there must be a ​"free, safe, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific that upholds shared principles​, including territorial integrity, sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction, and the peaceful resolution of disputes​."