Vice president of America Kamala Harris visited the Philippines on 21st November, and the visit and the conversation with the President had given a new incentive to a lingering drive against a US-Philippine military coalition. Some are worried that the current agreements can put the Philippines at great risk and that there can be an armed fight between China and the US.
The danger has decreased somewhat after the continuous three and four hours between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US current president Joe Biden on 14th November in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting was held just before the 17th G20 meeting. After the meeting, Vice president Kamala Harris went to an official meeting in the Philippines. It revived the fear of the Philippines getting caught in the Sino-US enmity.
President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr is receiving the audience at the President’s palace, trying to cool down the nerves. In a small talk about Harris’s planned trip to Palawan, which lay in a weak South China Sea area, continuously guarded by Chinese coast guard vessels, claiming Beijing’s assertions to the waters. Marcos said, “I’m sure you’re just going to the resorts and the beaches.”
Although, it was a serious business when they got a chance for official talks. There were official symbols that emerged that the foreign policy rendered by Marcos’ predecessor, President Rodrigo Duterte, who mistreated the former US president Barack Obama with nicknames and also went on to embrace, has now become history. Harris’s visit shows “a strong symbol” of the US-Philippine relationship is still important.
Macros said, “I do not see a future for the Philippines that does not include the United States.” The note was true to Marcos’s policy statement just after assuming office: A good friend to everyone and enemy to no one.
Kamala Harris told Marcos that Washington’s and Manila’s common concern about safety for the area is a vital part of their bilateral relationship. As it connects to the Philippines,. Harris said, “I will say that we must reiterate, always, that we stand with you in defense of international rules and norms as it relates to the South China Sea. An armed attack on the Philippines’ armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke US mutual defense commitments. And that is an unwavering commitment that we have to the Philippines.”
Marcos heartily thanked Harris for the firm dedication she had reiterated” for the US to be defensive of the Philippines.”
After that day, Kamala Harris was in Palawan, which is 320 km away from islands in the Spratlys that China has operated with airfields and missiles. On board a Philippines Coast Guard vessel, Harris told Manila’s maritime law enforcers, “We must stand up for principles such as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, unimpeded lawful commerce, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and throughout the Indo-Pacific.”
This conversation sent a new worry that the US-Philippine military agreement could put their country in a dangerous situation. Among the three agreements between Washington and Manila, the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) of August 1951 and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) enacted in April 2014 are the most important agreements.
Marcos had taken out the contrast in the face of US coercion for military help in the Vietnam War by sending only a civic action group, including medical and civilian personnel.
The Philippines undoubtedly has its own experience over the 2016 decision in favor of the Philippines by a free decision tribunal established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on China’s assertions of ownership of approximately the whole South China Sea. China’s reaction at that time was to refuse the ruling as “nothing more than a piece of waste paper.”
The China spectator said they are lessons for the Philippines to consider when trying to maintain itself between Washington and Beijing as “a friend to all.”
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