Relations with US allow ‘agile response ... to regional situations': Philippine president

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Tuesday that his nation’s relations with the US have “allowed agile responses of the two countries to regional situations,” according to an official statement released by Manila.

Marcos Jr did not identify China in his remarks during a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and defense chief Lloyd Austin.

Blinken and Austin were in Manila for a 2+2 meeting with their Filipino counterparts. It is the first time the Philippines has hosted the high-level meeting.

“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,” said Marcos.

Manila identifies parts of the vast South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea.

Manila and Beijing are engaged in a tussle concerning maritime jurisdiction and tensions escalated recently about resupply missions by the Philippines to its deliberately grounded World War II-era warship on disputed atolls.

The two sides recently, however, reached a pact for smooth supplies while China has warned the Philippines against supplying construction material to the BRP Sierra Madre.

The Philippines is the oldest ally of the US in the region since they established diplomatic ties on July 4, 1946.

In the 1950s, they signed a Mutual Defense Treaty under which Washington would help respond to an aggression against the Philippines.