It seems that the presence of the American Task Force Ayung in the Philippines was placed after a June 17 attack by the Chinese Coast Guard against the Ellita Filipino soldiers, engaged in a supply mission at The Second Thomas Shoal. Since then, the US unit has been based on Palawan and regularly training and training with Wescom forces
The United States has sent a working group to the Philippines to support Manila amid growing tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea. Official confirmation came directly from US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, who spoke to Task Force Ayungin, a special operation unit named after the Filipinas term used to refer to Second Thomas Shoal, an athlete in the archipelago of the islands spratly, claimed by China.
The group, consisting of about 15 US soldiers, seems to be located on the island of Palawan. It would be officially established in July, at the same time as an agreement was reached between the Philippines and China to supply a fuel to a Philippine ship for several decades, deliberately blocked by Manila in Second Thomas Shoal (known in China as Renai Jiao ).
US Movement
“Today I visited the Fusion and Fusion Control Center in Palawan, I also met with some members of the US service deployed in the US Task Force Ayung and thanked them for their tireless work on behalf of the American people and alliances and partnerships Our in this region. Austin announced the last days. The senior US official stayed in the Philippines for several days and achieved important results.
Austin, for example, signed an agreement that paved the way for the fastest exchange of information and intelligence between Manila and Washington, inaugurated the Combined Coordination Center at the Aguinaldo camp, visited President Ferdinand Jr. and also the unified command of the Philippine army in the front line. of the protection of the Western Philippines.
American Task Force
But what exactly is the Ayung Task Force mentioned by Austin himself and what is its function in the western command? US troops in Palawan will have the task of providing technical assistance through the information exchange group within the command center and fusion control in the Western command.
“This support enhances our maritime awareness ability, a critical task that helps plan and implement programs and activities to protect our interests in the Western Philippine Sea,” explained the Chief of Public Relations of Philippines, Colonel Xerxes Trinidad. US Embassy spokeswoman in Manila, Kanishka Gangopadhyay, added that the Task Force “enhances the coordination and interaction of the US-Philipial Alliance, enabling US forces to support the activities of the Philippine Armed Forces in the South China Sea.”
Tensions between the Philippines and China
It seems that the presence of the American Task Force Ayung in the Philippines was placed after a June 17 attack by the Chinese Coast Guard against the Ellita Filipino soldiers, engaged in a supply mission at The Second Thomas Shoal. Since then, the US unit has been based on Palawan and has regularly training and training with Wescom forces, mainly in relation to rotation and recharge missions in the controversial atol. However, US troops do not join and will not join the Missions of the Philippine Armed Forces.
However, all this is disturbing China. For Ding Duo, Deputy Director of the Center for Law and Ocean politics at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan, the United States “lit the flames” and promoted war in the controversial waters of the region. Not only that: the group’s presence in Palawan would have encouraged the Philippines to launch further provocations in the current dispute with China. Meanwhile, the southern theater of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army theater announced that “patrols and supervision have been strengthened since November”.
