By Zachary Keck
The Philippines is building a new naval base in the South China Sea amid growing tensions with China, Philippine officials told local and international media outlets for the first time last week.
The new naval base will be located on Oyster Bay, “a postcard-perfect cove on Palawan Island,” according to Reuters. Oyster Bay is 550 km (340 miles) southwest of Manila, the Filipino capitol city, and just 160 km (100 miles) from the Spratly Islands, a fiercely contested area in the South China Sea.
Talking to Reuters about the Oyster Bay base for the first time last week, Commodore Joseph Rostum O. Peña, commander of the Philippines' western navy, said “It will be a mini-Subic,” a reference to the large air and naval bases the U.S. used to maintain in the Philippines before the parliament voted to expel Washington from the country in 1991. It was the United States’ largest military installation in Southeast Asia.
Read the full story at The Diplomat