By Focus | 2026-02-26

Improved command and control (C2) are central to operations in the western Pacific, US Marine Corps leaders contend, voicing confidence in the force's ability to protect future prepositioning sites in the Philippines.

Beijing's coercive non-military forces are a "tactical problem," US Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, February 10 said in panel remarks at the WEST 2026 conference in San Diego, California. He pointed to China's maritime militia and alleged spying on the Philippines as concerns for the United States and regional allies.

Ensuring maritime mobility against Chinese opposition would require careful planning, he said. "If we had to navigate contested water, we'd have to set conditions to be able to do so … Things need to be very deliberately planned and brought forward," he said.

Turner and other Marine Corps leaders at the forum tied that confidence to improvements in operating with dispersed forces under pressure, saying reliable C2 is especially important for amphibious units that operate from land and other domains.

"We have made great progress in addressing C2 in the communications-degraded, denied environment and in this highly contested environment," Turner noted. "We have good systems that give us real value as an assured C2 element operating from the land."

That shift comes as regional pressure points intensify. China's military activity in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait has increased dramatically over the past year, and it has directed its most aggressive and highest-profile efforts against the Philippines, according to a ChinaPower report published February 5 by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the South China Sea, the Chinese People's Liberation Army conducted a record 163 documented operations in 2025, including a record number of live-fire drills, the report detailed.

Eyes on Subic Bay

The US Marine Corps is planning to open a prepositioning site on Subic Bay by summer. The former US naval base has become a logistical focus of the US military as it ramps up defense cooperation with the Philippines, USNI News reported last September following Washington's request to establish a military storage facility there.

Subic is situated at the mouth of the Luzon Strait, a strategic chokepoint linking the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, making it especially valuable as Beijing expands its footprint in contested waters.

Such threats and vulnerabilities must be "mitigated" for US Marines to use Philippine-based facilities in the event of a crisis, Turner maintained, as quoted by USNI News.

Beijing's dilemma

Beijing has "developed a world-class, counter-intervention force with world-class capability and the capacity to hold the US joint force at range," Turner said.

However, it forgot a key detail, he said.

"I don't think that their force design accounted for the contribution of forces that are already deployed in the first island chain, to be able to project power from key maritime terrain, onto the surface, into the air and into space and cyberspace," Turner explained.

The strategic "first island chain" includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

"That creates a tactical and operational and strategic dilemma for them. They also didn't account for meaningful contributions from our partners and allies," he added.

Increased US cooperation with partners in the western Pacific indicates Beijing's efforts to sway the region in its favor have not been successful, Turner said.

China's "approach has been negatively received by our various allies and partners in the Pacific," he said, according to USNI News. He cited "South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia and others."

Meanwhile, the Marines are focused on ensuring that Philippine-based prepositioning sites remain usable if a crisis requires movement through contested waters, he said.