Philippines names 4 new bases for US forces amid China fury

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government has identified four new local military areas where rotational batches of American forces with their weapons will be allowed to stay indefinitely despite strong objections from China. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved an expansion of the U.S. military presence in the country by allowing American forces to station in the four additional Philippine military bases under a 2014 defense pact. He said the move would boost his country’s coastal defense. The new sites identified by the government on Monday include three camps in the northern Philippines. They have infuriated Chinese officials because they would provide U.S. forces with a staging ground close to southern China and Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.