TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
US-Philippines engagements help with 'agile' responses to China, says Marcos
US treaty ally the Philippines has repeatedly sparred at sea with China, the main US rival in the Indo-Pacific, this past year, but the two sides have now reached a "provisional arrangement" to ease tensions and manage differences.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (center) greets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a courtesy visit at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on July 30, 2024. (AFP/Basilio Sepe)
P
hilippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told US cabinet secretaries Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin on Tuesday that regular engagements between Manila and Washington were needed to ensure "agile" responses to his country's maritime tensions with China.
US treaty ally the Philippines has repeatedly sparred at sea with China, the main US rival in the Indo-Pacific, this past year, but the two sides have now reached a "provisional arrangement" to ease tensions and manage differences.
Marcos greeted Secretary of State Blinken and Defence Secretary Austin at the Malacanang Palace on Tuesday morning ahead of meetings with their Filipino counterparts, the first such meetings 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 said.
The Philippines has competing claims with China in the waters to its west also known as the South China Sea. China claims 90 percent of the sea as its sovereign territory.
Marcos noted that he was "a bit surprised" to see the two secretaries given how "interesting" the US political situation has become, a reference to President Joe Biden this month ending his re-election campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to take on former President Donald Trump in a November election. Blinken offered Marcos greetings from Harris, as well as from Biden.
Blinken, the top US diplomat, said 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."
