Top U.S. military official arrives in Philippines, to visit EDCA site

MANILA, Philippines — Charles Q. Brown Jr., chair of the joint U.S. military chiefs, arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday and is set to visit one of the nine designated facilities for American rotational forces under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

Brown, the Air Force general and the highest-ranking U.S. military official, will also meet with his Filipino counterpart, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Romeo Brawner Jr., according to a U.S. Department of Defense news release.

The visit came days after the eighth anniversary of the Philippines’ arbitral victory at United Nations  that invalidated China’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea.

In a statement, Brown reasserted the United States' commitment to international law, saying that in the Philippines, the U.S. has a "longstanding, shared interest in regional stability."

 "The Philippines is one of our oldest treaty allies in the region," he added, referring to the 72-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries.
 
The undisclosed site Brown is set to visit supplements the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement allowing the presence of U.S. military personnel in the Philippines.

Signed in 2014, EDCA, meanwhile, allows U.S. troops access to specific Philippine military facilities, enabling them to construct infrastructure and position equipment, aircraft and vessels.

The agreement was forged as China continued to encroach on waters in within Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, blocking coast guard resupply missions and harassing Filipino fishermen.

Regional tour

After his visit to the Philippines, Brown is scheduled to meet key officials in the Indo-Pacific this week to strengthen U.S. investments in regional partnerships.

Brown will also travel to Japan, another U.S. ally, later this week to engage with senior government officials and military leaders to “discuss regional deterrence and security cooperation.” He will also touch base with U.S. soldiers in Yakota airbase.

This comes after Japan and the Philippines signed a reciprocal access agreement on July 8 allowing Filipino soldiers to undergo combat training with their counterparts in Japan.

Chinese coast guard and naval vessels have been spotted passing through Japanese-claimed territorial waters on several occasions.

In April this year, the Philippines, U.S., Japan, and Australia held naval exercises in the West Philippine Sea. The countries conducted various maritime exercises, including anti-submarine warfare.