VP Kamala: US stands shoulder-to-shoulder in defending Phl rights in South China Sea

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 the economy and defense, especially on protecting the Asian country's territorial rights in the South China Sea.

The White House and Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez made two separate confirmations following Marcos' and Harris' meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit's sidelines.

"(Both the 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.

The meeting between Vice President Harris and President Marcos is the fifth time the two leaders have met in the past year.

Marcos' and Harris' previous meetings included the 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 Prime Minister Kishida in Jakarta 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 US Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated that the US would support the Philippines in preserving its South China 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's defense promise under Article IV of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, which was signed in 1951.

This treaty says that the US will defend the Philippines if armed forces, public ships, or aircraft in the Pacific, including the South China Sea, attack the Southeast Asian country.

The Philippines and the US made defense guidelines to update their alliance and 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 of their aircraft or armed forces – which includes their Coast Guards – would invoke mutual defense commitments under the 1951 PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty."

Manila and Washington had earlier promised to work together more on coastal security, including but not limited to patrolling together.

China has kept up its activities and hostile actions in the resource-rich area even though an arbitral ruling said its huge claims in the area were not true.

This week, US President Joe Biden is hosting 20 other member countries of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). APEC is 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. At their first summit in a year, they agreed to boost military-to-military contacts and lower tensions.