US rebuts Chinese claims over troop visit to Philippine steel plant

U.S. military personnel have visited a Chinese-linked steel plant in southern Philippines to scout potential sites for a future exercise, the U.S. Embassy said, rejecting suggestions from Beijing that the visit was connected to other American military plans in the area.

A team of U.S. and Philippine military personnel visited the Sanjia Steel facility Wednesday as part of preparations for Balikatan 2027, the allies’ annual military exercise, according to an embassy statement Sunday.

The team arrived in coordination with the government-owned PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority “to assess its potential for use as part of bilateral military exercises,” the embassy said.

PHIVIDEC — the Philippine Veterans Investment Development Corp. — manages industrial zones, including the estate in Tagoloan on the southern island of Mindanao, home of the Sanjia Steel plant.

The visit drew attention from China after Ji Lingpeng, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Manila, described it Saturday as “disturbing.”

“Does the raid have anything to do with the American plan to convert the 3,000-hectare Phividec Industrial Estate into a giant American fuel hub?” Ji wrote on X.

The Philippine government raided the steel plant in May, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The newspaper reported May 16 that authorities arrested 69 Chinese workers and one Filipino at the plant, where employees were allegedly working illegally with potentially hazardous materials.

The Inquirer reported June 5 that Sanjia Steel’s ownership is linked to a Chinese businessman and that scrap metal contaminated with radioactive material was discovered during the raid.

The U.S. Embassy said Wednesday’s visit was routine planning for Balikatan 2027, which is expected to take place in spring.

“When notified of facility access requirements, the team moved on to other site visits as planned,” the embassy said Sunday. “We take this opportunity to reaffirm our steadfast commitment to the ironclad Alliance between the United States and the Philippines.”

Separately, the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency publicly solicited proposals March 31 for large-scale fuel storage in or near Davao, another city on Mindanao.

The solicitation calls for a contractor, beginning in April 2028, to provide storage for up to 41 million gallons of U.S. government fuel – 23 million gallons of naval fuel and 18 million gallons of aviation fuel.

The contract would include around-the-clock receiving, storage, protection, testing and shipment of government-owned fuel.

The embassy did not link the proposed fuel-storage project to the Sanjia Steel visit.

The Balikatan preparations have nothing to do with the Philippine government’s raid on the plant, Patricio Abinales, a professor at the University of Hawaii’s School of Pacific and Asian Studies, said by email Monday.

“The Chinese are ramping up attacks on Philippine officials for openly challenging them,” he said. “Goes to say that such incidents will be blown up.”