Philippines 'cannot allow US to stockpile arms' that can be deployed to defend Taiwan

Philippines, on April 18, asserted that the United States cannot store the arms in the country that will be used by the self-administered island of Taiwan to counter the belligerent activities of the People's Republic of China [PRC]. At the Senate enquiry on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo iterated that the Philippines will be "guided by the provisions of the EDCA and our own national interest" and will turn down the request by the US to store the ammunition at selected sites, according to Manila-based paper Phistar Global. Such a decision "will be guided by the main purposes" of the US-Manila Defense deal, said Manalo. 

"We would not agree to any kind of activity or even materiel not consistent with these agreed activities," Manalo was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "Our view is that EDCA is not aimed at any third country outside its meant for use for the Philippines and of course in connection with our treaty with the United States," he added. 

Our main foreign policy is really to be friends to all: Philippines FM

Philippines' Senate foreign affairs panel's chairperson questioned if the country should agree to the US caching weapons at EDCA sites in the Philippines. She cited the 2023 US National Defense Authorization Act which allowed for a contingency stockpile in Taiwan. In response to this, Manalo said: "I think, at this stage, our main foreign policy is really to be friends to all. And therefore, I think, anything that is inconsistent with that would not be also consistent with our position." He then noted that the Philippines will also not allow US troops to refuel, repair and reload at EDCA sites.

The sites mentioned by Manila were identified in the northern and western Philippines. At least two sites for the storage of US weapons were declared at Cagayan, another in Isabela and one other in Palawan. Therefore sites under the defence deal with the US totalled to nine. According to the Philippines' Department of National Defense officer-in-charge Carlito Galvez Jr., the sites were carefully chosen to ramp up the external defence of the Philippines and the country's own "vulnerability" in the north.