The US Army’s new presence in the Philippines and the push to contain China

The US has established a new army foothold in the Philippines with a rotational deployment designed to sustain the Typhon missile system and contain China, according to military analysts.The US Army has commenced rotational deployments in the Philippines, according to a post published on January 29 on the Defence Visual Information Distribution Service, the US military’s image and video hosting website.The photographs showed exchanges on January 12 between the Army Rotational Force-Philippines and the US Marine Corps, which already maintains its own rotational force in the country.The deployment marks the US Army’s first rotational unit in the Philippines – a development first reported by USNI News.Isaac Taylor, chief of public affairs for US Army Pacific, was quoted by media as saying that “the rotational force is not permanently assigned”.However, Taylor said it represented a shift from the “iterative engagement cycle” of previous years to a “more sustained rotational presence, enabling deeper and more consistent collaboration with our Philippine Army counterparts”.