US and Philippines step up strategic partnership as China threats loom in South China Sea

WASHINGTON – The Biden management on Friday reassured the Philippines anew that the U.S. commitment to the islands’ defense is steadfast amid expanding considerations about provocative Chinese movements in disputed spaces of the South China Sea.

An afternoon after President Joe Biden convened a trilateral summit involving himself, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the U.S. and Filipino international and protection ministers and nationwide safety advisers met to speak about strategic and army problems.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan hosted their Philippine opposite numbers on the State Department.

“Today’s meeting reflects the growing and deepening cope between our countries on a broad array of issues and of course our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, including in the South China Sea,” Blinken mentioned in transient opening remarks. “We very much welcome this opportunity to pursue that cooperation, that collaboration and of course we stand with the Philippines in our iron-clad defense commitments including the Mutual Defense Treaty.”

Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo echoed the ones remarks. “We attach a lot of importance to this meeting especially in light of recent developments in the South China Sea, especially China’s escalation of its harassment,” he mentioned. “We are determined to assert our sovereign rights, especially within our exclusive economic zone.”

On Thursday at the summit, Biden said the U.S. treaty obligations to its Pacific allies, like Japan and the Philippines, were “ironclad.” “Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty,” Biden said.

The White House billed the first trilateral summit with Japan and the Philippines as a potent response to China’s attempts at “intimidation” and said it would send a message that China is “the outlier in the neighborhood,” according to an administration official.

The U.S. and the Philippines have had a mutual treaty in place for more than 70 years. Biden’s vigorous reinforcement of the American commitment comes in the midst of persistent skirmishes between the Philippine and Chinese coast guards in the disputed South China Sea.

Relations between China and the Philippines had been time and again examined via confrontations involving the two nations’ coast guard vessels there. Chinese coast guard ships additionally continuously means disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands close to Taiwan.

The so-called “gray-zone” harassment by China has included shining military-grade lasers at the Philippine Coast Guard, firing water cannons at vessels and ramming into Philippine ships near the Second Thomas Shoal, which both Manila and Beijing claim. In 1999, Manila intentionally ran a World War II–era ship aground on the shoal, establishing a permanent military presence there.

Chinese officials have bristled at criticism over their action in the South China Sea and blamed the U.S. for exacerbating tensions.

Biden, a Democrat, has made improving relations with the Philippines a priority since Marcos became the country’s president in June 2022. The relationship has had ups and downs over the years and was in a difficult place when Marcos took office. Human rights groups said Marcos’ predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the rustic’s former dictator, mentioned as a candidate he would glance to pursue nearer ties with China. But he has more and more drifted towards Washington amid considerations about China’s coercive motion.