10-year deal with US on larger military presence

MANILA (AP):

The United States (US) and the Philippines have reached a 10-year pact that would allow a larger US military presence in this South-east Asian nation as it grapples with increasingly tense territorial disputes with China, according to two Philippine officials and a confidential government primer seen by The Associated Press yesterday.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which would give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships, is due to be signed today at the Department of Defense in the Philippine capital, Manila, shortly before the arrival of President Barack Obama, the officials said. Obama's visit is the last leg of a four-country Asian tour that also took him to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

The two officials spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss details of the pact ahead of its signing.

A Philippine government primer on the defence accord did not indicate how many additional US troops would be deployed "on temporary and rotational basis", but it said that the number would depend on the scale of joint military activities to be held in Philippine camps.

Hundreds of American military personnel have already been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002 to provide counterterrorism training and as advisers to Filipino soldiers, who have been battling Muslim militants for decades.