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Marcos says Philippine military bases won’t be used to attack China
[BenarNews] Philippine military bases where the United States has been granted expanded access are not intended to be used for offensive action against any country, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said as he wrapped up a four-day visit to Washington. Marcos’ remarks as he spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a local think-tank, marked his first categorical public rejection of such a scenario and it was also a message he said he had conveyed recently to China’s foreign minister."I assured him that, no, these are not intended to be military bases to attack, to move against anyone ... not China, not any country," he said in response to a question from BenarNews at the CSIS event on Thursday. Marcos also replied that the U.S. had never asked Manila to contribute Filipino troops to combat operations should war break out between the U.S. and China over Taiwan. The sites under the bilateral Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement were conceived to respond more efficiently to natural disasters driven by climate change, and the U.S. had not brought up using them as "staging areas" for offensive action, he said. He added, however, that with increasing tensions, especially in the Taiwan Strait, security and defense had become part of the mission. Posted by: trailing wife 2023-05-09 |
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