SecDef visits South China Sea island to bolster Philippines and check China

PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines—If the South China Sea is where Beijing is pushing most aggressively into allied territory, then WESCOM HQ is most directly in charge of pushing back. 

WESCOM—that is, the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines—sits on the island of Palawan, some 200 miles off the main Philippine archipelago. The island is washed by the West Philippine Sea, which is what Manila calls its slice of the South China Sea. China’s legal claim to the waters was rejected eight years ago by international courts, which has hardly slowed Beijing’s efforts to gain de facto control by turning reefs into airbases, harassing Philippine vessels, waging information warfare, and more.

Little surprise, then, that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin chose to come here on his fourth and final visit to the country, for a series of engagements that have seen him proclaim solidarity with Manila and criticism of Beijing.

From this camp of low buildings under rows of towering palm trees, WESCOM directs and supports the joint forces that keep tabs on and maintain a presence in the waters to the west. One young officer in the lobby said he’d spent seven months on one of the outposts that dot the sea.

The past three months have seen an uptick in Chinese aggressiveness, U.S. and Philippine officials said. 

“It's the same story over and over again,” Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro told reporters here on Tuesday. “They have been more aggressive in denying us access to our exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea. They have really placed a lot of these pseudo-military vessels disguised as Coast Guard vessels and maritime militia vessels in the areas of the West Philippine Sea. They have been very aggressive in their information operations against the Philippines.”

Beside him, Austin concurred. 

“The behavior of the PRC has been concerning. You've heard me say that a number of times. They've used dangerous and escalatory measures to enforce their expansive South China Sea maritime claims,” Austin said. “We condemn dangerous actions by the PRC against lawful Philippine operations in the South China Sea...Again, we'll continue to work with our allies and make sure that we're doing the right thing to promote a secure and open Indo-Pacific.”

Austin had flown an hour from Manila to see that cooperation in action at WESCOM HQ. He visited a brand-new intelligence-fusion center and received a demonstration of an uncrewed surface vessel, both purchased with U.S. security-assistance funds. 

The latter had arrived in May, part of a package that included Martec T-12 and T-38 USVs and the command-and-control gear to operate them. The U.S. also dispatched Marine Staff Sgt. Logan Hampton to help the Philippine Navy detachment learn to operate their new remote eyes at sea.

“This stuff right here is all Philippines-owned,” Hampton said, gesturing to a T-12 and two aerial drones in the yard. “We help them with the interoperability and integration, but this is theirs, so I can't tell them, like, ‘Hey, go do this, go do that.’ It's all about building relationships and working by, with, and through the partners, and it's their show.”

For Austin’s visit, the sailors put a T-12 up on blocks. The low, slender craft comes with autonomous collision-avoidance systems, carries either an optical camera or a sonar rig, has a range of about 39 miles, and can handle waves up to about three feet, Hampton said. 

“So it's more for, like, port security, shoals, and, like, small channels and stuff like that, but it is basically a littoral monitoring station. You could just set it out there and let it kind of feed and get that picture back to the commanders on the Philippine side and the U.S. side,” he said. “One of them is actually on the water in Oyster Bay here. That's conducting surveys now.”

But when Austin emerged from briefings, the Philippine sailors showed him how they were controlling a T-38 in Subic Bay, some 350 miles to the north.

Hampton said the U.S. military has also begun operating Martec USVs, and the two navies are learning about their new gear together.

“We're procuring them for them at the same time as us. And even some of that stuff on there”—he gestured to the T-12—“is a little bit ahead of what we have, just because of procurement and all that, but we are developing TTPs [techniques, tactics, and procedures] and everything else together,” he said. “We're doing AAR—after-action reviews—and we're just together, Phil and U.S. side, trying to develop this as quick as possible.”

In his press conference, Austin called the remote-controlled craft part of a larger effort to help better equip the Philippines military.

“The T-12 is one of several unmanned capabilities funded and delivered this year through U.S. security assistance,” he said, standing before a mural emblazoned Defenders and Patriots of the Last Frontier. “We expect to see many more platforms like this delivered with the $500 million in foreign military financing that I announced during my visit to the Philippines in July. This will help ensure that the Philippines has the capabilities that it needs to defend its rights and its sovereignty throughout its exclusive economic zone.”