Philippines' Duterte fully restores key troop pact with US

Austin, left, signs a guest book as Lorenzana looks on at Camp Aguinaldo military camp in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on, July 30. - AP

MANILA (Reuters): President Rodrigo Duterte has restored a crucial pact governing the presence of US troops in the Philippines, the two countries' defence ministers said on Friday (July 30), reversing a decision that had caused increasing concern in Washington and Manila.

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) provides rules for the rotation of thousands of US troops in and out of the Philippines for war drills and exercises. It has assumed additional importance as the United States and its allies contend with an increasingly assertive China.