Austin thanks ‘US Task Force Ayungin’

MANILA, Philippines — The United States’ defense chief may have revealed the existence of a “US Task Force Ayungin” in a social media post, following his visit to the Western Command headquarters in Palawan province on Tuesday.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III said he met with “some American service members deployed to US Task Force Ayungin,” a unit that had been unheard of until the US official mentioned it on Tuesday afternoon.

“[A]nd I thanked them for their hard work on behalf of the American people and our alliances and partnerships in this region,” he wrote.

Ayungin is the Philippine name of the Second Thomas Shoal, a low-elevation feature in the West Philippine Sea at the center of maritime tensions between Beijing and Manila, which maintains the grounded warship BRP Sierra Madre in the area as a military outpost.

Edca terms

The Philippines has accused Chinese vessels of harassing or obstructing its ships on resupply missions to the shoal, located some 200 kilometers west of Palawan, well within Manila’s 370-km exclusive economic zone.

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Austin did not give details about the task force while Philippine defense and security officials did not immediately respond to the Inquirer’s request for comment.

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The composition of the task force remains unclear but the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) between the Philippines and the United States allows the rotation of American troops training Philippine forces and prepositioning of weapons and equipment on select military sites in the country.

“My impression is that it’s not new, but newly public,” said American security expert Ray Powell in a message to Inquirer.net on Wednesday.

“Most likely they want to communicate that the [US-Philippine] alliance is active and engaged,” said Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.

Washington has offered to escort Philippine ships on resupply missions to Ayungin but Philippine officials say they have declined this.

In July, the National Security Council said rotation and resupply missions to Ayungin would remain a “purely Philippine operation.”

Austin also visited the Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, on Tuesday, one of nine Edca sites in the country.

At a joint press briefing in Puerto Princesa City, he said Washington would send more unmanned surface vessels to the Philippines through its $500-million foreign military financing.

“I just watched the Philippine Navy demonstrate the capabilities of a T-12 unmanned surface vessel. The T-12 is one of several unmanned capabilities funded and delivered this year through the US security assistance,” Austin said.

‘Important to us’

“We expect to see many more platforms like this delivered with the $500 million in foreign military funding that I announced during my visit in July, to help ensure that the Philippines has the capabilities and means to defend its rights and its sovereignty throughout its exclusive economic zone,” he added.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. thanked Austin for his commitment to the “robustness of the Philippine-US defense relationship and the relationship in general.”

With the impending change of leadership in the US, Austin said he would rather not speculate on the incoming administration’s policies but assured Philippine officials of his country’s continued support.

“Both of our best interests are to continue to develop the relationship and help [Teodoro] meet his goals in terms of modernization so that he can continue to protect his sovereign interests and the people of the Philippines, protect their fishing rights and those kinds of things,” Austin said.

The Philippines, he said, “will remain an important country to us for many, many years in the future.” —with a report from John Eric Mendoza, INQUIRER.net