U.S. Defense Secretary Austin spoke with Philippine Defense Secretary Lorenzana for the first Time Tuesday (Feb. 9, 2021) to discuss a number of significant bilateral defense topics, including the South China Sea issue.
In a press release, the Pentagon said Secretary Austin confirmed the U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Philippine military alliance and to the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement, and emphasized the important value this agreement brings to both countries.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced a year ago that he would repeal the U.S.-Philippine Visiting Forces Agreement. The 1998 agreement legally allows the U.S. to station tens of thousands of troops in the Philippines on a rotational basis to participate in dozens of military and humanitarian relief exercises each year. But the Duterte administration announced twice last year that it would not abrogate the agreement for now.
Philippine Foreign Minister Steven Lochin said Monday that the temporary non-termination of the agreement is to give the two sides a chance to continue working to resolve their differences. He said he was scaling back controversial issues between the two sides and that the two sides would meet in the last week of February to deal with their differences and reach an agreement, but he would not say what the new deal would entail.
The Pentagon press release also said the two defense chiefs also discussed regional security challenges, including the South China Sea, and recognized the importance of upholding international rules, including a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in a dispute between China and the Philippines over sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Last month on the 27th, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, who had been in office for just one day, spoke with Foreign Minister Lochin and emphasized the clear applicability of the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty in the event of an armed attack on the Armed Forces of the Philippines, government vessels and aircraft in the South China Sea.
Foreign Minister Lochin also said Monday that the Philippines is trying to move forward with ASEAN-China negotiations to develop a code of conduct for the South China Sea, but stressed that the code of conduct for the South China Sea must not exclude the United States from the region and that this is not negotiable.
China views the United States as an outside power in the South China Sea and seeks a code of conduct with ASEAN countries that would exclude the United States from the region.
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