US missile deployment to Philippines 'incredibly important' for combat readiness, US general says

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The U.S. Army’s recent deployment of a midrange missile system to the northern Philippines was “incredibly important” and allowed American and Filipino forces to jointly train for the potential usage of such heavy weaponry in Asian archipelago conditions, a U.S. general said Monday.

The Biden administration has moved to strengthen an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in any possible confrontation over Taiwan and other Asian flashpoints. The Philippines has also worked on shoring up its territorial defenses after its disputes with China started to escalate last year in the increasingly volatile South China Sea.

China has vehemently opposed the increased deployment of American combat forces to Asia. But it has been particularly alarmed by the U.S. Army’s deployment in April of the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of joint combat exercises in April with Philippine troops.

"What it does collectively, it provides us the opportunity to understand how to employ that capability — the environmental challenges here are very unique to any other place in the region,” U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, Commanding General of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division, said when asked how the missile system has helped participants in joint combat training in the Philippines.

"Last year, we also deployed long-range fires capabilities with HIMARS and we were able to move those around with fixed-wing aircraft around the archipelago environment,” Evans told The Associated Press in an interview in Manila, referring to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, the truck-mounted launchers, which fire GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting distant targets.

"Those are just incredibly important operations because you get to work in the environment, but most importantly, you’re working alongside our partners here in the Philippines to understand how those will be integrated into their operations,” Evans said without elaborating.

The Typhon missile system was supposed to be flown out of the Philippines last month, but three Philippine security officials told the AP recently that the longtime treaty allies had agreed to keep the missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrence despite China’s expressions of alarm.

The Philippine officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive U.S. missile deployment publicly.

Evans flew to Manila to start talks with Philippine army counterparts on holding annual military exercises by the allied forces in the Southeast Asian country next year, particularly the Salaknib drills, which aim to boost the combat-readiness of thousands of American and Filipino troops in increasingly realistic settings.

"Conceptually, it is scheduled to be a larger, more complex exercise,” Evans said adding that there could be joint training maneuvers from the jungles in the northern Philippines to former U.S. military bases in the region.

“We’re also planning on bringing new equipment to train alongside our Filipino army teammates that last year we did not have,” he said without providing details.

“Our job is to get 1% better each day alongside our Filipino army teammates in terms of readiness,” he said. “Those relationships that are built, the readiness that is developed, should remove any doubt about the importance of our alliances and the work we do here with the Philippine army.”

Evans and other U.S. Army officials attended a ceremony Sunday marking the anniversary of a historic moment in U.S.-Philippine relations when U.S. Gen. Douglas Macarthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines in October 1944 by wading ashore into the coast of central Leyte province to help lead the liberation of the country from Japanese occupation forces.

On Monday, Evans and his men laid a wreath in an austere ceremony at the American Cemetery in metropolitan Manila, the largest such U.S. World War II cemetery and memorial in the world.

The Leyte Gulf ceremony reflected the long history that had bonded American and Filipino forces in war and peace, he said.

"That trust was built over eight decades,” Evans said.

Associated Press photographer Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, left, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division and Sgt. Major Shaun Curry salute during a wreath laying ceremony to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, right, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, looks at names of American soldiers who died during World War II that are carved on a wall at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division looks at names of American soldiers who died during World War II that are carved on a wall at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

An American soldier walks past a wreath during ceremonies to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, right, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division walks beside a wreath during rites to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, salutes during a wreath laying rite to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, left, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division and Sgt. Major Shaun Curry arrange a wreath during rites to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, left, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division and Sgt. Major Shaun Curry salute during a wreath laying rite to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, right, commanding general of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division and Sgt. Major Shaun Curry walk after a wreath laying rite to honor American soldiers died during World War II at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig, Philippines Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?

“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”

Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”

Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.

Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.

Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.

The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.

The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.

“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”

Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.

Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.

“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”

Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”

Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.

Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”

“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.

AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.

In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)