SecDef visits South China Sea island to bolster Philippines and check China
- November 19, 2024
PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines—If the South China Sea is where Beijing is pushing most aggressively into allied territory, then WESCOM HQ is most directly in charge of pushing back.
WESCOM—that is, the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines—sits on the island of Palawan, some 200 miles off the main Philippine archipelago. The island is washed by the West Philippine Sea, which is what Manila calls its slice of the South China Sea. China’s legal claim to the waters was rejected eight years ago by international courts, which has hardly slowed Beijing’s efforts to gain de facto control by turning reefs into airbases, harassing Philippine vessels, waging information warfare, and more.
Little surprise, then, that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin chose to come here on his fourth and final visit to the country, for a series of engagements that have seen him proclaim solidarity with Manila and criticism of Beijing.
From this camp of low buildings under rows of towering palm trees, WESCOM directs and supports the joint forces that keep tabs on and maintain a presence in the waters to the west. One young officer in the lobby said he’d spent seven months on one of the outposts that dot the sea.
The past three months have seen an uptick in Chinese aggressiveness, U.S. and Philippine officials said.
