MANILA — The United States will help strengthen the Philippine military and boost interoperability between the longtime allies' forces, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday.

Austin made the remark during a meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Malacañang Palace, where the Pentagon chief described the Philippines as a "key" US ally.

“From [a] defense perspective, we will continue to work together with our great partners and to build and modernize your capabilities as well as increase our interoperability,” Austin said.

In the same exchange, Marcos said he placed "great importance" in the country's partnership with the US, as the Philippines traversed "troubled waters."

"I have always said, it seems to me that the future of the Philippines and for that matter, the Asia Pacific, will always have to involve the United States simply because those partnerships are so strong and so historically embedded in our common psyches," he added.

Washington and Manila on Thursday announced a deal to give US troops access to another 4 bases in the Philippines under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

• Philippines expands US access to military bases

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Beijing's growing assertiveness on Taiwan and its building of bases in the disputed South China Sea have given fresh impetus to the Philippines and the US to strengthen their partnership.

The 2014 EDCA pact allows US troops to rotate through 5 Philippine bases, including those near disputed waters. It also allows the US military to store defense equipment and supplies on those bases.

The EDCA stalled under former President Rodrigo Duterte, but Marcos has sought to accelerate its implementation.

Under its expansion, the United States will have access to at least 9 military bases across the archipelago.

The new sites have not been publicly identified, but it has been widely reported that most of the new bases will be on the main island of Luzon -- the closest Philippine landmass to Taiwan -- where the US already has access to two locations.

The fourth will reportedly be on the western island of Palawan, facing the Spratly Islands in the hotly contested South China Sea, taking the number of sites there to 2.

Former Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr. last year described the country's military capability as among the weakest in the region.

• DND OIC says PH military capability 'one of the weakest in the region'

Marcos earlier said the country was "not in an economic situation" to bolster its defense unlike big economies like the United States and China.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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