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The Philippines and the US have updated their alliance to work together ‘for a free and open Indo-Pacific region’
Daily TribuneThe Philippines and the US have updated their alliance to work together ‘for a free and open Indo-Pacific region’
SAN FRANCISCO, California — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday (US time) discussed how Manila and Washington could work together on economy and defense, especially in protecting the country's territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea.
The White House and Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez, issued separate confirmations of Marcos' and Harris' meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
"(Both officials discussed) continued economic (and) defense cooperation," Romualdez told the Philippine media delegation here in a Viber message when asked if the meeting pushed through.
Vice President Harris and Marcos' meeting is the fifth time in the past year.
Their previous meetings included the US Vice President's visit to Manila in November 2022, the Vice President hosting President Marcos at the Naval Observatory in May 2023, a bilateral meeting on the margins of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta in September 2023, and a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Jakarta also in September 2023.
In a separate statement, the White House said the two leaders reaffirmed the strength of the alliance between the United States and the Philippines and discussed ongoing efforts to deepen security ties in the Asian region.
In particular, the White House said, Vice President Harris reiterated that the US would support the Philippines in preserving its West Philippine Sea territorial claims.
"The Vice President and President Marcos welcomed the historic momentum in US-Philippines ties and emphasized their shared intent to grow and modernize our alliance," the White House said.
"The Vice President reiterated [that] the United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder in defending the Philippines' sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the South China Sea," it added.
Harris also talked about the US' defense promise under Article IV of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, which was signed in 1951.
The treaty says the US will defend the Philippines if its armed forces, ships, or aircraft are attacked in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea.
The Philippines and the US have updated their alliance to work together "for a free and open Indo-Pacific region."
The rules "reaffirmed that an armed attack in the Pacific, including anywhere in the South China Sea, on either their aircraft or armed forces — including their Coast Guards — would invoke mutual defense commitments under the 1951 PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty."
Manila and Washington earlier promised to work together on heightened coastal security, including, but not limited to, patrolling together.
China has kept up its activities and hostile actions in the resource-rich waters even though an arbitral ruling in 2016 invalidated its vast claims.
This week, US President Joe Biden is hosting 20 other member countries of the APEC — a trade-focused group whose summit will be dominated by the US leader's meeting with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and the war between Israel and Hamas.
Biden praised his "most constructive" talks with Xi on Wednesday.
They agreed to boost military-to-military contacts and lower tensions at their first summit.