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Jan van Tol, a senior fellow at another Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said that operating from bases on Palawan would put U.S. forces close to the disputed Spratly Islands, where China has been reclaiming land and building airfields and other facilities. “More visits to the Philippines means more ships in the South China Sea,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
As the Obama administration executes its strategic “pivot” to the Western Pacific in the face of China’s military buildup, it is rediscovering the importance of a long-standing ally in the region.
