US Ambassador to Manila sang Kim said the United States is not stockpiling weapons in the Philippines. About it reports Reuters.
“We are not building any weapons on any point of the Philippines,” said Kim. According to him, all construction work at U.S. bases agreed upon by Manila and none of the constructed buildings not designed for storage of weapons.
Thus the head of the U.S. Embassy reacted to the allegation by the President of the Republic Rodrigo Duterte, who said that the U.S. military erected arsenals and boxes for equipment, including tanks, across five bases in the Philippines. Duterte noted that it might provoke a reaction from China and harm the interests of the country. Once the Philippine military has denied the statements of its President, he has indicated that he has his own sources of information which he trusts.
In January 2016, the Pentagon has approved a number of construction and repair work on bases located in the Philippines. On assurances of the U.S. military, they relate exclusively to the barracks, which houses the personnel, access routes and storage areas.
On 15 December the United States decided to suspend financial aid to the Philippines through the activities of the Agency the Millennium Challenge Corporation (“MCC”), expressing grave concern at the violation of the rule of law and civil liberties in this country. Duterte in response threatened to terminate the agreement that would allow American troops to stay in the Philippines. The President of the Republic did not rule out that Russia will become a strategic ally of the Philippines. “They [the Russians] do not offend and not to interfere”, — he said then.