Maritime with forces: how the Philippines found itself at the forefront of the confrontation between the United States and China

Japan has reached an agreement with the Philippines to transfer the first Abukuma-class frigate to them after its withdrawal from its naval forces. In total, six frigates of this type, which are planned to be withdrawn from the Japanese Navy, are expected to be delivered. In recent years, the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been dynamically updated, acquiring new capabilities. The Pentagon is actively integrating the island state into the anti-Chinese axis being created along with Japan and Australia, making the archipelago the central element of the "first island line." Whether the rearmament of the Philippines can pose threats to Russia and how their strengthening is changing the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region — in the Izvestia article.

How the Philippines is becoming the front line of confrontation in Asia

The Philippines is preparing for a major upgrade of its naval forces. In the coming years, the country expects to receive six decommissioned Japanese Abukuma-class frigates.

The strengthening of the island nation's naval capabilities can directly affect the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) and further strengthen American influence. Moreover, the Philippine archipelago is located about 900 km from the island of Taiwan. Accordingly, America is interested in deploying its units in this country during a possible future conflict with China.

Photo: Global Look Press/Rouelle Umali/xinhua

The territorial disputes between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea remain one of the sources of tension in the region. In particular, the parties claim a number of sections of the Spratly Archipelago. In addition, the Scarborough Atoll area remains in dispute.

The United States, which has been building a bloc of allied countries around China for decades, has long-standing ties with the Philippines. And in recent years, they have been trying to use the island state as a kind of springboard against China.

In 2014, the United States and the Philippines signed an Agreement on Expanded defense cooperation. It allows American units to be stationed on the territory of the archipelago on a rotational basis, as well as to build and operate facilities at Philippine bases without creating permanent military installations. As part of the agreement, the United States gained access to nine military bases and airfields. The parties regularly conduct joint exercises. After one of them, in April 2024, a unit of the US multi-domain combat group armed with the Typhon missile system was deployed on the island of Luzon. It is capable of using Tomahawk cruise missiles and Standard anti-aircraft missiles.

Photo: Global Look Press/Sherbien Dacalanio/ZUMAPRESS.com

In general, many experts consider the strengthening of cooperation between the Philippines and the United States, Japan and Australia as part of the emerging system of regional deterrence of China, the so-called Pacific NATO. It is significant that the US Secretary of War, at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore, called the US forces and their allies on the so-called first island line one of the key elements of regional defense. This line runs from the Japanese islands through Taiwan to the Philippines and is considered by Washington as an important line of deterrence of the PRC.

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Despite the growing military cooperation between Manila and Washington, the modernization of the armed forces of the Philippines is still focused primarily on tasks in the South China Sea. Therefore, these processes currently have no direct impact on the balance of power in the Russian Far East. At the same time, Moscow's attention may be attracted by the possibility of deploying American intermediate-range missile systems in the archipelago. However, this threat is completely stopped by the development of the Bastion and Bal coastal missile systems deployed on the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka, as well as the constant duty of the strategic aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Pacific Fleet forces in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mobile coastal missile system "Bastion"

Photo: TASS/Sergey Fedyunin

The Russian Pacific Fleet continues to be updated with the arrival of new Borey-A and Yasen-M nuclear submarines, diesel-electric submarines with Kalibr complexes, as well as modern corvettes and frigates equipped with hypersonic weapons. Therefore, the military potential of the Philippines itself, focused mainly on regional tasks, is unlikely to have a significant impact on the balance of power near the Russian borders.

How the Armed Forces of the Philippines are being updated

The modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is called Horizon. The main focus is on the navy, since until recently it was an antiques museum and consisted of ships mainly built in the United States during the Second World War.

The country's navy is being dynamically updated, primarily due to the construction of ships at shipyards in South Korea. In 2025, they will include the frigates Miguel Malvar and Diego Silang with a displacement of 3,200 tons.

BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG-06)

Photo: Getty Images/Daniel Ceng/Anadolu

There are two frigates "Jose Rizal" built in 2020-2021. The Navy also has a corvette and is building five more such ships of the type "Raja Suleiman" with a displacement of 2,400 tons. The corvettes will be delivered to the customer by 2028, and then the Philippine Navy will become a balanced and quite modern force.

Long range: the Gremyashchy corvette returned from the Asian campaign

For the first time in 40 years, a ship based in Kamchatka has raided seven seas and two oceans.

Since 2019, the Philippines has been considering proposals from France, Spain and South Korea to purchase two submarines. Of all the major Southeast Asian countries, perhaps only this island nation does not yet have its own submarine forces.

Now we are talking about the transfer of six Abukuma-class frigates by Japan. They were built in 1989-1993 specifically as anti-submarine ships with a displacement of 2,900 tons and a length of 109 m. Receiving six such pennants at once means a qualitative leap in the ability to control the underwater situation for Manila, which previously had no experience in anti-submarine warfare.

Abukuma-class frigate

Photo: TASS/AP/Koji Ueda

Another important update was the purchase of three batteries of Brahmos missile systems from India in January 2022. The deployment of the first battery in the north of Luzon Island has changed the military balance in the sector. The Scarborough Atoll, one of the main points of tension in relations between Manila and Beijing, now falls into the fire zone of these missiles. The characteristics of the complex make it possible to cover naval targets throughout the Bashi Strait up to the southern coast of Taiwan. Manila's intention to purchase two more such batteries indicates a desire to create a full-fledged access exclusion zone (A2/AD) in the adjacent seas.

Due to the military and technical support of the United States, Japan and South Korea, the Philippines is becoming a balanced regional power. However, this modernization is tightly tied to the American strategy of containing China, which makes Manila a hostage to a potential large-scale conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.