The Biden administration has reached an agreement with the Philippines to give the United States access to four more military bases in the former U.S. colony. This will allow the U.S. greater access to the South China Sea and Taiwan as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing. The deal was announced after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila. Marcos is the son of the former dictator of the same name who was a close U.S. ally.

Filipino activists held a protest outside the military camp where Austin and Marcos met. This is former lawmaker and activist Teddy Casiño.

Teddy Casiño: “Filipinos do not need additional American troops and facilities in the country. It will only serve to increase the tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. And deploying additional facilities and troops in the Philippines will drag the country into the conflict, which is between China and the United States.”