Washington is challenging Communist China with an agreement to provide $500 million in aid for the Philippines to build up its feeble armed forces to the point at which they can stand up to Chinese bullying at sea and Communist and Muslim revolt on land.

Although half a billion dollars is just a tiny percentage of what the Philippines needs to stave off the Chinese in the South China Sea, the deal reached by Defense Secretary Austin and Secretary of State Blinken at Manila marks a milestone on the way to restoring American power and prestige in the country and the region.

“It’s really evidence of a steady drumbeat of very high-level engagements between our countries that are covering the full range of issues and opportunities that bring us together,” Mr. Blinken remarked as the Philippines’ president, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., received them in the ornate Spanish-built Malacanang Palace from which his father fled with his family and cronies in the People Power Revolution of 1986. 

“We’re more than allies, we’re family,” Mr. Austin observed, ignoring the legacy of the American role in the overthrow of Marcos Sr. Messrs. Blinken and Austin then met their Philippine counterparts at nearby Camp Aguinaldo, the headquarters where Marcos’ foes plotted his demise, for a lengthy discussion of what both sides see as a significant upgrade in the Philippine-American alliance.

The funds, though, won’t be nearly enough to buttress Philippine defenses against China.

“It’s more symbolic than anything else,” veteran analyst Carlos Conde at Manila tells me. “Symbolic that is of the U.S. keeping its commitment to the Philippines in light of China’s belligerence.” “Basically,” he said, “our big American brother is demonstrating to us that they’re going to stick by us — hopefully — as we stand up to Beijing, the bully.” 

It was not clear where the money would go, but the Pentagon listed procurement of much needed weapons, training and construction of nine small bases that Americans will share with Philippine forces.  Americans have not been permanently stationed in the Philippines since leaving their huge, historic naval and air bases in 1991 after the Philippine Senate refused to renew the leases on the bases but have been arriving annually for joint exercises.

Since Bongbong’s election as president in 2022, Philippine-American relations have been on an upswing in large measure because he’s gotten nowhere trying to convince the Chinese to relinquish their claim to almost the entire South China Sea. The best he’s been able to do is to come to vague terms under which the Philippines can resupply a small contingent aboard a derelict World War II vessel, Sierra Madre, that’s grounded on a shoal as a symbol of Philippine control.

Sleek Chinese vessels, painted white, with the words “China Coast Guard” glaring from their hulls in large black letters, have been blocking Philippine fishermen from returning to familiar fish-rich waters, ramming their boats, firing powerful water cannons at them  and threatening their crews with knives and hammers. 

“We will not be intimidated,” Mr. Marcos said before receiving Messrs. Blinken and Austin, but no one imagines the Philippines can fend off the Chinese without vast quantities of foreign aid — and an American  “commitment” to defend the Philippines as firmly as the American “commitment” to the defense of the Republic of China on Taiwan, also the target of Chinese intimidation at sea and by air.

The funds the Americans have just agreed to provide are a drop in the ocean for a military establishment of about 150,000 troops in all services charged with defending a country whose 120 million people survive often at poverty levels on about 8,000 islands. 

The Philippine armed forces are also crippled by endemic corruption, poor morale, and incompetent leadership that has left them powerless against China and often ineffective against the Communists’ New People’s Army and Muslim terrorists who are largely on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago.

“If only for the  morale boost Manila gets out of it, I think that’s money well spent,” said Mr. Conde. “Then again, the Philippines needs all the money it can get to improve its naval capabilities so it’s really not a question of how big or small the amount is — it’s how Manila uses it and maximizes it.”