The Patriot Post® · The United States, the Philippines, and the Defense of Taiwan

The U.S. has enduring ties to the Philippines. The Philippines were conquered by Spain in 1542 and remained a Spanish colony until the Spanish-American War of 1898. After the U.S. defeated Spain, the Philippines became our territory. The U.S. gave the Philippines its independence in 1946.

The U.S. maintained large military bases (Subic Bay and Clark AFB) until 1991-1992 and maintained close ties, including the long-standing policy and tradition of Filipinos joining our military in large numbers. Filipinos still make up the largest group of our foreign-born military. In recent years, ties between the Philippines have gotten stronger, partly due to the threat posed by China’s rise in power and ambition. The Philippines is one of only five treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific. We provide it with substantial support through military presence, military aid, Foreign Military Sales (FMS), and joint exercises. There are more than four million Filipinos in the U.S., making it the third-largest Asian American population.

The Philippines is found east of the South China Sea and South of Taiwan. Taiwan, at its closest point across the Luzon Strait, is a scant 186 miles away. Even closer is Itbayat Island at 80 miles. One can immediately grasp the Philippines’ strategic location in relation to Taiwan’s safety and security.

Philippine citizens live in a democracy with broad freedoms and a modern, sophisticated society, despite the challenging environment and the fact that the country consists of 7,641 islands, more than 2,000 of which are inhabited. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Philippine society is a unique blend of diversity and homogeneity. Although geographically part of Southeast Asia the country is culturally strongly Euro-American. Forces of assimilation have constantly worked to overcome cultural differences between the various ethnic groups that are scattered — sometimes in relative isolation — throughout the archipelago. Nearly four centuries of Western rule, however, have left an indelible imprint on the Philippines, serving as a conduit for the introduction of Western culture and as the catalyst for the emergence of a sense of Philippine political and cultural unity.”

Thus, the U.S. and the Philippines are united by history, shared values, and a strong devotion to freedom, including freedom for their close neighbors in Taiwan.

Strategic Interests and Chinese Aggression

As China has grown economically and militarily in recent decades, it has become much more aggressive toward its neighbors in the region. This is especially true of its illegal actions against the Philippines. Beginning in the late 1940s and intensifying since 2009, the PRC has promoted its fictional “nine-dash line,” claiming sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea. Of course, this is nonsense.

In 2016, the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled there was “no legal basis under international law” for China’s claims. Unsurprisingly, the communist rulers of the PRC completely ignore the court. They illegally built military facilities on artificial islands all through the South China Sea, with seven bases in the Spratly Islands and 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands. According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, “China’s artificial islands and militarized facilities give it strategic power projection capability across much of the South China Sea — capability the 2016 tribunal said China has no legal basis to assert for vast areas of the sea under the nine-dash line.”

In particular, the Philippines has been a target of abuse and aggressive military action for years now over the Philippine Island of Second Thomas Shoal, an island the Philippines military has occupied continuously since 1999. It is only 120 miles from one of the Philippines’ main islands, Palawan. China’s troublesome behavior has been even worse recently, with its military aggressively intimidating Philippine forces to try to force them to abandon Second Thomas Shoal. This video, which I highly recommend from IndoPacific Report, shows China’s illegal and dangerous behavior.

The Congressional Research Service reports, “The Philippines holds strategic importance for the United States as part of what some experts refer to as the ‘first island chain’ in the Pacific. … U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reportedly aims to broaden the U.S. force posture in East Asia, deploying and rotating military assets to Southeast Asia and the southern Pacific. Experts contend that the Philippines could play a key role in a contingency with China in the region.”

The Philippines’ Formal Ties to the United States

In 1951, the U.S. and the Philippines entered a Mutual Defense Treaty. We are bound to defend the Philippines against “armed attacks” on its armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Philippine Coast Guard. We also have a Visiting Forces Agreement with them that allows the U.S. to station our military forces in the Philippines. Lastly, we have an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that allows us to station rotational forces there, conduct joint training with the Philippine Armed Forces, and preposition our equipment in the Philippines at key locations. These agreements are crucial to the U.S.‘s plans to defend Taiwan if PRC aggression occurs, as they give us access to critical geography.

The Philippines is designated a Major Non-NATO Ally by the U.S., creating numerous opportunities to deploy assets to defend Taiwan. As a result, the Philippines is the top recipient of U.S. defense aid in the Indo-Pacific. In addition to outright aid, the Philippines has purchased major defense equipment under the FMS program, including advanced aircraft such as the F-16 and Black Hawk helicopters.

U.S. Strengthening of the Philippines’ Military

Summarized below is recent reporting by the United States Naval Institute. The Philippines’ military received surveillance aircraft and added maintenance support from Washington through the FMS program.

• Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft: The Philippine Air Force currently deploys four American turboprops, with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) loadouts to aid Manila’s counterinsurgency and maritime domain awareness missions. Three of the aircraft were provided by the U.S. through grants.
• U.S. ScanEagle drones provided for the Philippine Navy and Air Force. One of these units is located on the coast of Western Luzon, near Scarborough Shoal.
• The U.S. Army stood up a rotational force in the Philippines.
• The Marines will set up a prepositioning site for equipment at Subic Bay by summer 2026.
• American forces by sea and air joined Philippine forces near Scarborough Shoal for a joint patrol during recent Chinese aggressive action. U.S. fighters, surveillance aircraft, and helicopters took part.
• The U.S. has continuously kept a Navy presence near Western Luzon since October 2025. U.S. military support continues with increased intelligence support, a forward-based Marine Corps Reaper drone unit, and persistent P-8 Poseidon flights throughout the South China Sea.

Conclusion

Despite its relatively small population and economic strength, the Philippines’ proximity to Taiwan makes it a key player in Taiwan’s future defense against the PRC’s ambitions. While it does not recognize Taiwan diplomatically, it maintains a robust presence there, with substantial labor and people-to-people flows and strong commercial ties. The U.S. partnership with the Philippines is a critical part of our dedicated support system for Taiwan against China’s aggression.