US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to arrive in the Philippines for a two-day trip that could fast-track a deal on expanding the US military presence as a territorial dispute simmers with China.
Kerry will also visit areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, highlighting a massive US humanitarian response to the disaster that contrasted with a modest contribution from China.
"Kerry's visit can be expected to act as a catalyst for change," John Blaxland, a security and defence analyst at Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific, told AFP.
Washington and Manila are in the final stages of hammering out a deal allowing more US troops, aircraft and ships to temporarily pass through the Philippines.
"He will be eager to leverage the visit to speed up and finalise arrangements and assure the Philippines and other regional powers that the US is not just a fair-weather friend," Blaxland said.
Following the typhoon, Washington deployed an aircraft carrier group and committed 1000 Marines and $20 million in a mobilisation that served as a preview of the deal's intensified defence engagement.
Beijing drew scorn with an initial offer of just $100,000 to the Philippines, a Washington ally with which it is locked in a dispute over sovereignty of islands in the strategically vital and the potentially resource-rich South China Sea.
In a bid to showcase its increasing military alliance with the US, Manila held war games near the territory earlier this year, further stoking tensions with Beijing.
Kerry will hold talks in Manila on Tuesday before travelling to the typhoon-ravaged town of Tacloban on Wednesday.
He will meet with his Philippine counterpart Albert del Rosario as well as President Benigno Aquino, who has been rallying pro-US sentiment to blunt China's muscle-flexing in the region.
