By Simon Lewis and Karen Lema
MANILA (Reuters) -Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr advised U.S. cupboard secretaries Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin on Tuesday that common engagements between Manila and Washington had been wanted to make sure “agile” responses to his nation’s maritime tensions with China.
U.S. treaty ally the Philippines has repeatedly sparred at sea with China, the primary U.S. rival within the Indo-Pacific, this previous 12 months, however the two sides have now reached a “provisional arrangement” to ease tensions and handle variations.
Marcos greeted Secretary of State Blinken and Defence Secretary Austin on the Malacanang Palace on Tuesday morning forward of conferences with their Filipino counterparts, the primary such conferences hosted by the Philippines.
“I’m always very happy that these communication lines are very open so that all the things that we are doing together, in terms of our alliance, in terms of the specific context of our situation here, in the West Philippine Sea and in the Indo-Pacific, are continuously examined and re-examined so we are agile in terms of our responses,” Marcos mentioned.
The Philippines has competing claims with China within the waters to its west also referred to as the South China Sea. China claims 90% of the ocean as its sovereign territory.
State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller mentioned Blinken and Austin mentioned with Marcos “their shared commitment to upholding international law in the South China Sea.”
“The two secretaries underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines under our Mutual Defence Treaty,” Miller mentioned in an announcement following the assembly.
At first of the assembly, Marcos mentioned he was “a bit surprised” to see the 2 secretaries given how “interesting” the U.S. political state of affairs has grow to be, a reference to President Joe Biden ending his re-election marketing campaign this month and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to tackle former President Donald Trump in a November election. Blinken provided Marcos greetings from Harris, in addition to from Biden.
Blinken, the highest U.S. diplomat, mentioned a “steady drumbeat of very high-level engagements in our countries that are covering the full range of issues and opportunities that bring us together not only security, but also economic.”
