The Philippines has opened a new base in its far northern Batanes province, in the middle of the strategic Luzon Strait frequented by Chinese navy ships.
Why It Matters
The Philippines is part of the so-called first island chain, a string of Pacific allies the Pentagon views as critical to containing China’s military in the event of a conflict. Since last year, the U.S. has deployed missile systems to the northern Philippines that put parts of China—and any ships passing through the narrow strait—in range.
Manila is locked in a territorial dispute over China‘s expansive patrols within the Philippines’ maritime zones, and the presence of the U.S. missiles has further inflamed tensions, with Manila resisting Beijing’s demands to remove them, insisting their deployment is not aimed at any country in particular.
What To Know
On Thursday, Batanes Governor Ronald Aguto Jr. joined the Philippine navy’s Northern Luzon Command in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new base in Mahato, on Batan Island.
The site “will serve as a hub for territorial defense, maritime domain awareness, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response,” the command said in a statement posted to social media.
“More than a military facility, it is envisioned as a whole-of-nation platform, open for use by maritime agencies such as the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, as well as local fisherfolk, to enhance coordination, safety, and rapid response in the Philippine seas,” the statement added.
Batanes, located about 120 miles from Taiwan’s southern tip, sit closer to the China-claimed island than to the Philippine capital of Manila.
China has vowed to unify with Taiwan by force if necessary, and has in recent years stepped up military pressure, including large-scale drills simulating a blockade.
Taiwan, a key tech hub and major trade partner of the United States, sources most of its weapons from Washington, which maintains a policy of public “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would come to the island’s defense in a conflict.
What’s Next
If a war does break out over Taiwan, the Philippines would inevitably be drawn into the conflict, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said last month.
“There is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location,” he said, adding that the top priority would be evacuating some 160,000 Filipino migrant workers living in Taiwan.
In April, the U.S. deployed the ship-killing NMESIS missile system to Batanes for joint war games with the Philippines, although the exercise did not involve live fire. The move followed the deployment in 2024 of a U.S. mid-range “Typhon” missile system, to northern Luzon province.
The U.S. and the Philippines share a Mutual Defense Treaty. In 2023, Manila increased the number of bases U.S forces can access from five to nine, as the countries stepped up security ties in response to China tensions.
China has not yet publicly responded to the opening of the Mahato base.
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