Sailors assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald drive a rigid-hull inflatable boat ahead of the Australian navy frigate HMAS Ballarat in Philippine waters, Oct. 31, 2025. (Cyrus Roson/U.S. Navy)
The United States and the Philippines are forming a new military task force, to be led by a general or admiral, aimed at deterring aggression in the South China Sea.
The task force was announced Friday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ meeting of defense ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Hegseth and Teodoro did not say where the task force will be based or when it will begin operating.
The unit will be led by a brigadier general or rear admiral and include about 60 service members, according to a fleet statement provided to Stars and Stripes Monday.
“Task Force-Philippines increases efficiency in bilateral coordination, improves operational and exercise execution, and boosts humanitarian assistance and disaster response preparedness,” the fleet said in the statement.
The task force will not include new combat forces, offensive operations, unilateral deployments or permanent U.S. basing in the Philippines, according to the statement.
“We share concerns about China’s coercion in the South China Sea, particularly recently in Scarborough Shoal,” Hegseth said in a video of the announcement posted online.
China, which claims nearly the entire South China Sea, seized the shoal from the Philippines in 2012 and has since declared it a nature reserve.
The U.S.-Philippine mutual defense treaty applies to forces from either nation anywhere in the South China Sea, Hegseth said in Malaysia.
“We don’t seek confrontation, but, of course, we are ready to protect our interests, individually and mutually, and that’s why we are publicly announcing the Task Force Philippines,” he said.
The task force marks another step in U.S.-Philippine military cooperation, focused on readiness and joint training to respond decisively to crisis or aggression in the region, Hegseth said.
The United States has not had permanent bases in the Philippines since 1992, but U.S. forces may operate from nine sites there under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
U.S. Marines have trained alongside Philippine troops for much of this year. On Thursday and Friday, naval forces from the U.S., the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand conducted drills in Philippine waters, the U.S. 7th Fleet said Friday.
The exercise included the destroyer USS Fitzgerald, the Australian frigate HMAS Ballarat, the New Zealand sustainment ship HMNZS Aotearoa, the Philippine frigate BRP Jose Rizal and several aircraft, according to the release.
It is important for both our countries to cooperate more deeply, deter better and add more allies, Teodoro said in Malaysia, according to a Saturday report by the state-run Philippine News Agency.
“Freedom of navigation, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty are not only important for us, but for the whole world,” he said.
