The United States has announced that it will provide $500m in military funding to the Philippines, as the pair eyes ongoing tensions with China.

The announcement came on Tuesday, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Manila. The two officials launched an Asia Pacific tour over the weekend, aimed at boosting Washington’s influence in the region in a bid to challenge the “strategic challenge” Beijing poses.

“We’re now allocating an additional $500m in foreign military financing to the Philippines to boost security collaboration with our oldest treaty ally in this region,” Blinken told a news conference alongside Manila’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

Blinken described the aid as a “once in a generation investment” to help modernise the Philippine armed forces and coastguard.

Austin said the funds demonstrate the commitment of the US to take “bold steps to strengthen our alliance”.

“We are here to build on an extraordinary foundation. We are working to advance our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he declared. “This level of funding is unprecedented.”

Teodoro called the aid a “tremendous boost” to Manila’s defence capabilities. Manalo said the Philippines welcomes the “iron-clad commitment” shown by the US to the pair’s alliance.