US boosts alliance with the Philippines with $500 million funding and pact amid concern over China

Washington officials in Manila have announced $500 million in funding to boost Philippine defenses and progress in a proposed military intelligence-sharing pact amid shared concerns over China's increasingly aggressive actions in the region. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held talks with their Filipino counterparts Tuesday. They also called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has fortified Manila’s decades-old treaty alliance with Washington as hostilities between Philippine and Chinese forces flared in the disputed South China Sea. Marcos has underscored the need for a U.S. military presence for Asian stability and peace.