China News recently reported that, when the U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was in Manila, he advised that the United States is expected to expand the scale of its rotational deployment in the Philippines. However, Hagel claimed that the U.S. had no plans to establish a permanent military base there. Hagel had visited Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei before landing in the Philippines. He expressed the belief that the new military cooperation model will benefit both the U.S. and the Philippines while providing support for President Aquino’s defense modernization plan. The Philippines is a military ally of the United States. The two countries are in the middle of negotiating a new framework agreement which, once approved, will allow the United States to use all military facilities in the Philippines. Currently the U.S. military can only operate in Subic Bay.
Source: China News, August 30, 2013
http://www.chinanews.com/gj/2013/08-30/5228382.shtml