Subic Bay in the Philippines is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon. The area was formerly the location of one of the US Navy’s most important facilities. Now and in fear of China, the US Navy is coming back.
The history of the Subic Bay Naval Base dates back to 1885 when the Spanish Navy began construction of a naval gunnery and port facilities.
The Spanish used the base until 1898 when they lost its sovereignty to the US during the Spanish-American War. The base was then used by the US Navy until May 1942 when the Philippines were occupied by Japanese troops.
In 1945, with Japan’s defeat in WWII, the base was again owned by the US, until 1992 when it was abandoned, passing to the sovereignty of the Philippine government which created a free trade zone in its place.
During the 1970s, the base had come to cover a huge area of 420 square kilometers. which made it the second largest overseas US military installation, after Clark Air Force Base which was also located in the Philippines.
From 1988 to 1992, the US government and the Philippine government tried to renegotiate the terms of expanding the military bases in Subic and Clark.
This referred to the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, which was about to expire. Thus began intense negotiations between the governments of the two countries. These negotiations resulted in the signing of the “Treaty of Friendship, Peace and Cooperation”. This treaty would extend the lease of American bases in the Philippines.
However, a bone of contention remained the amount of money the US government would pay the Philippine government for the lease and use of the bases.
According to C.R. Anderegg, the deputy commander of Clark Air Force Base, the Philippine government wanted $825 million annually over a seven-year period, but the US government insisted on $360 million annually over 10 years. Thus on September 13, 1991, the Philippine Senate rejected the ratification of the treaty.
In December 1991, the two governments again entered into talks to extend the withdrawal of US forces for three years, but this agreement also did not move forward as the US refused to give a firm timetable for its withdrawal from there or to say whether they kept nuclear weapons on base.
In addition, the US offered only a quarter of the $825 million rent requested by the Philippine government.
Finally, on December 27, President Corazon Aquino, who had previously tried to delay the US withdrawal to mitigate the effects on the country’s struggling economy, issued an official announcement that the US would withdraw by the end of 1992. , as it eventually happened.
The USA returns after 30 years
In late 2022, plans emerged to reopen the base under the pre-existing “Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement” (EDCA) after the Philippine Navy regained control of a section of the former base and an American investment company bought the rest of the port .
The US Navy will likely return to the bay 30 years after abandoning its once-largest military base in Asia due to concerns over China’s growing naval activity and strategic location, a top Philippine official who oversees the Subic free trade zone said. as it effectively oversees the South China Sea. But it’s not just the base in Subic.
Manila and Washington are in negotiations to build five more sites in the Asian country to build military facilities under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
Rolen Paulino, president of the agency that oversees the operation of port facilities, told Kyodo News a day before the 30th anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from the port it controlled for nearly 94 years that he would be “very surprised” if Subic Bay did not become a US naval base again, as “during a war in Asia, time is of the essence”.
He added that the tensions over the Taiwan Straits and the growing hostility between the US and China cause general concern for the Philippines as well.
Signed in 2014, the ten-year EDCA is almost certain to be extended for another 10 years after 2024 as evidenced by Washington’s renewed interest in establishing new bases in the Philippines and new funding for new bases.
On November 9, US Ambassador to the Philippines Mary Kay Carlson visited Subic Bay and the shipyard acquired this year by the American company Cerberus Capital Management LP.
A senior Philippine official said two Chinese companies wanted to take control of the shipyard in Subic Bay, but the United States had intervened and the plan had not gone ahead. However, it is not only the US that has concerns about Chinese expansion.
The Philippines and China have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, a mineral-rich and vital shipping lane through which goods worth $3 trillion pass annually.
Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. ordered Manila to proceed with a diplomatic overture to Beijing seeking “clarifications” on a Nov. 20 naval incident between the Philippine Navy and the Chinese Coast Guard near the Philippine-held Thitu islet whose strategic location often causes tensions between the two countries.
Philippine authorities said the Chinese Coast Guard “violently” seized debris resembling a Chinese missile launched in October and landed in the sea area.
A Chinese Coast Guard inflatable boat approached a Philippine Navy vessel towing the debris in Thitu and twice tried to intercept it before the Chinese vessel’s crew cut the tow line and retrieved the items being towed!
