A Chinese envoy said the Philippines is “stoking the fire” over Taiwan’s independence by giving the US access to military sites near the Taiwan Strait under an expanded defense agreement.

While Manila has adhered to the one-China principle, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines said the decision “has caused widespread and grave concern among Chinese people.” Huang Xilian was speaking Friday at a forum in Manila on China-Philippines relations.

The Philippines this month identified the four new military sites the US will have access to under their Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA. Three are near Taiwan and a fourth faces the disputed South China Sea.

The new locations bring the number of military sites the US can access in the Philippines to nine, under the pact signed in 2014 which allows the US to rotate its troops for prolonged stays as well as build and operate facilities on those bases.

“Obviously, the US intends to take advantage of the new EDCA sites to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Strait to serve its geopolitical goals and advance its anti-China agenda,” Huang said. That’s at the expense of the Philippines and the region, he added.

The US said in February the new sites — which weren’t identified then — would allow for more rapid support for humanitarian and climate-related disasters in the Philippines and respond to other shared challenges.

Philippine Defense Chief Carlito Galvez Jr. said earlier this month the locations are “very significant” and “very strategic” including the area near the South China Sea which is a key route for around US$3 trillion worth of traded goods. It’s the Philippines’ “responsibility to the international community” to secure the area, he said.

The US and the Philippines on Tuesday began the largest version of their flagship military exercises, a high-profile display of their renewed alliance that includes live-fire training targeting a decommissioned vessel near the South China Sea.

It came the same week China held its own drills near Taiwan after the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a visit to the US, where she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other American lawmakers.

Huang said China “will not renounce the use of force” and reserves “the option of taking all necessary measures” to guard against external interference and all separatist activities on the Taiwan issue.

He said “some” people have linked the decision behind the sites to the safety of 150,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan, but added the foreign workers would be better served if the Philippines didn’t offer the locations.

(Bloomberg)

US and Philippine troops fire a Javelin anti-tank weapon system during a joint military exercise in Nueva Ecija, Philippines. (Bloomberg)

China says Philippines-US defense agreement fanning tensions