to tackle larger US military presence in Philippines

by Michael Punongbayan Philstar.com

in the disputed South China Sea. Austin flew to Manila Tuesday night, January 31 from South Korea, where he had said that the U.S. would increase its deployment of advanced weapons such as fighter jets and bombers to the Korean Peninsula to bolster joint training with South Korean forces in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat.

In the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia and a key front in the U.S. battle against terrorism, Austin visited Zamboanga City on Wednesday, February 1 as the most senior American defense official to set foot in Mindanao since U.S. troops were deployed to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in its war against