@voyager1 He wanted a transactional relationship instead of a subservient one. any trouble in the SCS we will be the first target why should we sacrifice ourselves for pittance, might as well ask for remuneration now while we had the leverage. At the same time we ask the same from China....LOL
a side note there are no US bases in my country, it is prohibit under our constitution, what the US has are weapon depots, that is why the VFA is very crucial ,without it the American can't enter the Philippines and use those weapons.
OK, so there is no legal basis for the US to deploy their military in Philippine. There have been this constant talks about the US deploying missiles or other military assets in Philippine to counter or engage China in any SCS or Taiwan contingency. Those appear to be more aspirational.