MANILA—The Philippines is backing a new defense partnership between the United States, Britain, and Australia, hoping it can maintain the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, a view that contrasts sharply with some of its neighbors. Known as AUKUS, the alliance will see Australia get technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of the agreement intended to respond to the Chinese regime’s growing influence. “The enhancement of a near-abroad ally’s ability to project power should restore and keep the balance rather than destabilize it,” Philippines foreign minister, Teodoro Locsin, said in a statement released on Tuesday. Locsin’s remarks differ to the stance of Indonesia and Malaysia, which sounded the alarm about the nuclear power submarines amid a burgeoning superpower rivalry in Southeast Asia. Locsin said that without an actual presence of nuclear weapons, the AUKUS move would not violate a 1995 treaty to keep nuclear arms out of Southeast …