The US revalidates its military privileges in the Philippines, its alliance with Singapore and its aid to Vietnam

The strategic importance of Southeast Asia to the United States in its global competition with China is evident in the trip that the US Secretary of Defence, General Lloyd Austin, has just made to Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines during the last week of July.

In each of these countries, the Infantryman and the first man of colour in whom the Biden Administration has placed its confidence to direct national defence policy has held a series of high-level meetings and signed important agreements. His tour complemented the first round of trips he made to Japan, South Korea, India and Afghanistan in the second half of March after taking office at the end of January.

The Philippines was a must. During the Cold War it was Washington's land-based aircraft carrier in Asia, where the island of Luzon is home to Clarck Air Base, the largest permanent overseas station of the US Armed Forces. Another destination had to be Singapore, the pearl of Asia, a wealthy and trusted ally on the doorstep of the world's most populous continent. Both Southeast Asian nations have the largest and strongest defence and security cooperation agreements with the United States. Vietnam was the third country on the agenda, a country shadowed by China on its borders.

The strategic importance of Southeast Asia to the United States in its global competition with China is evident in the trip that the US Secretary of Defence, General Lloyd Austin, has just made to Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines during the last week of July.

In each of these countries, the Infantryman and the first man of colour in whom the Biden Administration has placed its confidence to direct national defence policy has held a series of high-level meetings and signed important agreements. His tour complemented the first round of trips he made to Japan, South Korea, India and Afghanistan in the second half of March after taking office at the end of January.

The Philippines was a must. During the Cold War it was Washington's land-based aircraft carrier in Asia, where the island of Luzon is home to Clarck Air Base, the largest permanent overseas station of the US Armed Forces. Another destination had to be Singapore, the pearl of Asia, a wealthy and trusted ally on the doorstep of the world's most populous continent. Both Southeast Asian nations have the largest and strongest defence and security cooperation agreements with the United States. Vietnam was the third country on the agenda, a country shadowed by China on its borders.

Lloyd Austin's words were echoed at Malacañan Palace, the official residence of Philippine President Roberto Duterte, whom he met upon his arrival in Manila on 29 July. The White House envoy wanted to put on record the increased importance that the Biden administration says it wants to attach to the Philippines, America's longest-standing ally in the region, whose Mutual Defence Agreement dates back to August 1951.

But above all, Lloyd Austin's aim was to reassure President Duterte that, in the face of Beijing's sovereignty claims over most of the islets and archipelagos in the South China Sea, to the detriment of the countries in the area - including the Philippines - the US "stands with the coastal states of the region in defence of their rights under international law". It also confirms in a personal capacity that the Philippine leader has abandoned the balance he seemed to want to maintain between the Philippines' long-standing alliance with Washington and constant pressure from Beijing. 

In order to please the Beijing government and reduce the tension generated by the presence of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, President Duterte threatened the United States in February 2020 to denounce or allow the so-called Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), in force between the two countries since 1999, to lapse. It was a statement that was read in the Pentagon as a "very serious blow" to relations between the two countries, as well as a gift to China.

The VFA is a bilateral agreement that establishes the legal terms for US Armed Forces personnel and weapons systems to enter and remain on Tagalog territory to cooperate against the radical insurgency in Mindanao, the country's largest island, to support disaster relief operations or to conduct exercises with Philippine military units, around 300 each year.

In the end, it was all settled. Lloyd Austin left Manila after meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin and making a joint statement with National Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. The Filipino politician confirmed that President Duterte had decided to keep the VFA in place and both expressed the willingness of the two countries to strengthen their alliance and to deal in a coordinated manner with Chinese threats to Philippine interests.

Vietnam was the centrepiece of the itinerary, the nation to which the defence secretary spent the most time and where his talks had a strong long-term political overtone. The aim was to continue to build mutual trust step by step between Washington and Hanoi, enemies to the death in the second half of the century, but now both nations concerned about Beijing's expansionism.

As a show of goodwill, two weeks before Lloyd Austin's arrival in Hanoi, Washington had donated 2 million doses of Modern COVID-19 vaccine, which was supplemented by another 3 million during his stay in the Vietnamese capital. In return, he was received not only by the Minister of National Defence, Phan Van Giang, but also by the Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, and even by the newly appointed President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 67, who had taken office on 5 April. 

In terms of agreements, Washington has taken up the request of the Vietnamese government, which wants to locate the remains of those who disappeared during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The Pentagon and other agencies will facilitate access to military documentation and records in their possession in an attempt to satisfy the Vietnamese families. In addition, the two governments have agreed to cooperate on maritime security.

What happened on Lloyd Austin's first stop in Singapore? He met with Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, with whom he discussed a possible expansion of the US naval presence and the capacity building that the government of President Halimah Yacob - whose term of office ends in September 2023 - is providing to the US fleet.

Singapore is one of the world's largest financial and port centres. Considered the United States' most reliable partner in Southeast Asia, key defence and security agreements between the two countries were renewed in 2019 and allow the US military to access, station and fly over its territory and jurisdictional waters. Singapore is a major purchaser of weapons systems from US industry. Along with Japan and Korea, it is the only nation in Asia that has Washington's approval to purchase advanced fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighters. There are four aircraft, with an option for an additional eight.

The F-35s will be received from 2026 by Singapore's combat air fleet, which consists entirely of US Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle (40 units), F-16 Falcon (60) and AH-64D Apache helicopters (20). The cooperation also includes the training and education in the United States of US Air Force pilots and technicians, which has now been extended to the Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam, 4,700 kilometres from Singapore. 

The missile systems and much of its ground-based weaponry also come from the United States. Purchases in recent decades through the government-government formula amount to $8.5 billion, plus another $37.6 billion in direct purchases of equipment, engines, electronics and spare parts from US industry, according to April 2021 data from the State Department.

To further attract Southeast Asian countries to Washington, a third trip is expected to take General Lloyd Austin to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.