OLONGAPO, Philippines — American warships rest at anchor in Subic Bay, on the South China Sea about 90 miles west of Manila, nearly 33 years after the Americans shut down their largest overseas naval base here after a wave of nationalism led to the refusal of the Philippine senate to renew a bases agreement. 

The American navy is not only back at Subic Bay but at the helm of plans to intensify the challenge to Chinese claims to the South China Sea — this time with the enthusiastic support of Philippine leaders and politicians who had wanted the Americans to leave after the defeat of the American-backed South Vietnam government half a century ago. 

A spin around Subic Bay in a “banca,” a rickety wooden boat with a two-man crew, offers a glimpse of a ponderous American navy refueling vessel anchored far out in the bay. Around a curve on shore a local businessman, Ronald Fajardo, pointed to a navy supply ship and a sleek “littoral combat” vessel for close support of marines on the beach. “We welcome the Americans,” he said. “They’re here to defend us.”

The ships joined in war games on land and at sea known as “Balikatan” — shoulder to shoulder — an annual military show involving American and Filipino troops.  American and Philippine forces have been conducting such exercises despite the closure of the naval base on Subic Bay along with America’s largest overseas air base at Clark, 46 miles to the east, and other lesser bases, but this time was different.

“This year, more than 20 countries and over 14,000 troops came together,” the chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces, General Romeo Brawner Jr., stated as Balikatan wound down. “We conducted integrated land, sea, and air operations including humanitarian assistance, disaster response, cyber defense, and joint command post simulations.”

 Most countries sent only observers, but for the first time Japan had a small contingent of its Self-Defense Forces join in the war games, a sign of Tokyo’s eagerness to stand up to China. Australia contributed 260 troops to 20 training events — more than twice as many as last year — “a major commitment to being a reliable defense partner in the region,” according to Australian Vice Admiral Justin Jones.

The Philippine commander of Balikatan, Brigadier General Michael Logico, foresaw a much larger Japanese role in “joint all-domain operations,” shedding the legacy of the three terrible years in which Japan occupied the Philippines in World War II. “We will then fully realize how much more the JSDF (Japan Self Defense Forces) can contribute when it comes to future field training exercises,” he said.

The exercises, in which American and Filipino marines and soldiers range deep into the low-lying mountains rising beyond Subic Bay, are not the only sign of the renaissance of American power in the Philippines. 

In the midst of the war games, U.S. Naval Institute News reported plans to modernize and enlarge a small Philippine base called Oyster Bay on southwestern Palawan island, close to islets on which the Chinese have built air and navy bases. Oyster Bay is to receive several million dollars “to develop, repair infrastructure to support ‘host nation vessels.’” 

Philippine civilian vessels and Coast Guard cutters “have repeatedly been damaged by Chinese ramming and water cannon attacks in previous incidents,” according to USNI News. “These attacks punctured holes, disabled navigational equipment and knocked out engine power on several vessels.”

The project to enlarge Oyster Bay is “the latest in a series of U.S.-funded defense infrastructure developments across the Philippine archipelago,” said USNI News. These include a U.S. navy storage facility either at Clark or at Subic Bay — in addition to nine  bases elsewhere that America is building under an “enhanced defense cooperation agreement” reached last year.

Those bases, USNI News noted ominously, will be  “closer to flash points in the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait” — between the Philippines’ main northern island of Luzon and the independent Chinese island province of Taiwan that Beijing is constantly encircling with warships and planes.