The Philippines agreed to allow the US military and army to create 4 new military bases on their islands. These strategic locations will give the US the best seats in the house to recon that South China Sea. The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 different islands just 420 miles south of China making it a strategically important archipelago. They’ve been on the frontlines in WW2, the old war on terror and now the West’s new competition with China.