US, PH to enhance EDCA sites for logistical support

The United States and the Philippines said Friday that their Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites will be improved for logistical support.

At a press conference after a meeting with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the two countries will speed up their capability upgrades and logistical support facilities for deterrence.

“We will enhance our current EDCA locations and we will make improvements. Mind you, these are Philippine bases of which we have to invest in. We will enhance them for logistical support,” Teodoro said.

“We have talked about establishing a sustainable, effective, and business case-focused defense industrial base which suits our national interests and advances our economic, defense, and other cooperative resilience activities,” he added.

Hegseth pointed out the importance of logistics support in operating big systems and advanced technologies for the militaries.

“We can talk about big systems and advanced technologies. But if you don't have logistics support, I see the folks who run militaries and run formations, you need logistics support to actually operate and advance forward,” Hegseth said.

On Tuesday, China reacted to the scheduled visit of Hegseth to the Philippines, saying that “nothing good could come out of opening the door to a predator.”

“Any defense or security cooperation between the Philippines and other countries should not target any third party or harm their interest, still less threaten regional peace or escalate tensions in the region,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

“Facts have repeatedly proven that nothing good could come out of opening the door to a predator. Those who willingly serve as chess pieces will be deserted in the end. Our message to some in the Philippines: stop serving as other countries’ mouthpiece and no more stunt for personal political agenda,” he added.

Asked about the matter, Teodoro described China’s statements as “robotic quality” due to its limited world view.

“I think that characterizing people who do not appropriate parts of the South China Sea as their own, as they do the 10-dash line, speaks loudly of themselves rather than others,” he said.

“You know, that's once again a product of a limited world view of a closed society. We don't practice propaganda in this country. We practice free speech and democracy. So the Philippines is not a mouthpiece, unlike they themselves who are mouthpieces of Xi Jinping thought,” he added.

For his part, Hegseth said that the US does not seek intervention but peace.

“We don't seek intervention. [President Donald Trump] has made it clear we don't seek war, we don't seek to nation-build, we don't seek to use chess pieces, and move them around the board,” Hegseth said.

“All we seek is peace. All we seek is freedom and cooperation and mutual benefit, and we find that in friends like our friends in the Philippines. But do not mistake our friendship. Do not mistake our belief in peace and our desire for peace for a lack of resolve. Too many have, and America still stands strong today and will continue to be,” he added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News