By Takuya Karube,
The United States agreed Tuesday to help the Philippines modernize its armed forces while committing to redouble efforts to maintain peace in the Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law.
With China increasingly challenging the existing U.S.-led liberal international order, the agreement to bolster interoperability and shared defense capabilities, especially in the maritime domain, was struck in Washington at a meeting between the defense and foreign secretaries of the longtime security allies.
"We all reaffirmed today that our mutual defense treaty remains the bedrock of our cooperation," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a joint press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their respective Philippines counterparts, Enrique Manalo and Carlito Galvez.
As part of efforts to strengthen the alliance, Austin said they agreed to complete a road map on U.S. defense assistance for the Philippines to advance the delivery of priority equipment, including radars, military transport aircraft and drones, over the next five to 10 years.
He said the commitments will further integrate their "strong bilateral ties into multilateral networks including with Japan and Australia."
The United States and the Philippines held so-called two-plus-two talks for the first time since 2016, in yet another sign that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration is continuing its pursuit of a different approach to former leader Rodrigo Duterte.
A statement released by the four secretaries urged China to end its "threatening and provocative activities" in parts of the South China Sea where the Philippines has sovereign rights, and stressed the importance of maintaining stability across the Taiwan Strait as an "indispensable element of global security and prosperity."
In February, Marcos granted the U.S. access to four more military bases, increasing the number that American soldiers can use to nine.
Manalo told reporters that the nations are not at a stage where they can answer how the additional bases might be used, but noted he believes Manila and Washington have already reached an understanding that the main purpose is dealing with potential humanitarian or climate disasters.
In his six years in office until June 2022, and especially in the early years, Duterte repeatedly threatened to sever the Philippines' longtime security relations with the United States and made efforts to cozy up to China and Russia.
China disregards a 2016 international tribunal ruling that invalidated its territorial claims to the South China Sea, home to important shipping lanes and rich fishing grounds.
But Duterte often ignored China's illegal incursions into the waters, where not only the Philippines but also several other Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan have overlapping claims with Beijing.
Philippine officials have said they are keen to boost defense cooperation with other countries in the region, including Australia and Japan.
The joint statement said the U.S. and Philippine navies are finalizing plans to sail together in the South China Sea and also discussing the idea of conducting multilateral maritime activities with other like-minded countries in the area later this year.
In a symbolic move, the allies began their largest yet annual military exercises in the Philippines and its nearby waters also on Tuesday. The annual drills known as Balikatan, meaning "shoulder-to-shoulder" in Tagalog, involving a total of about 17,600 personnel, will run through April 28.
The United States and Japan think closer ties with the Philippines will boost deterrence against China and prepare for a potential crisis over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and to be brought under control by force if necessary.
The United States and Japan plan to launch a three-way dialogue involving their own and the Philippines' national security advisers as early as this month, officials familiar with the idea said last month.
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