Philippines won’t be military staging post – Marcos

WASHINGTON – As he was about to embark on a five-day official visit here, President Marcos made it clear he would not allow the Philippines to become a “staging post” for “any kind of military action,” emphasizing the country’s dedication to working for peace in the region.

Asked how he envisions the Philippines’ role in the Indo-Pacific in the face of geopolitical tensions, Marcos replied: “Our goal here in the Philippines is simple. We work for peace. We’ll not encourage any... provocative action that will involve the Philippines by any other country. We will not allow that to happen,” he told reporters on board PR-001 on Sunday.

“We will not allow the Philippines to be used as a staging post for any kind of military action. All we are worried about is the peace and the safety of our people, here and abroad. And that’s the main consideration. So in my view, that’s the role,” he added.

Marcos was slated to meet with US President Joe Biden on May 1 at the White House.

In the interview, Marcos said he would likely discuss with Biden and other officials the Philippines’ ties with its top treaty ally, as well as Washington’s views on the situation in the Indo-Pacific and the role it intends to play in the region.

The visit, his second as President, comes in the face of China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea, a resource rich-area over which Beijing claims to have historic rights.

Beijing’s saber rattling over Taipei has also heightened jitters, with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian even “advising” the Philippines to unequivocally oppose “Taiwan independence” instead “stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait.”

A US official said moves to check Beijing’s aggressive expansion into the trade routes and strategic islands of the South China Sea will headline talks between Marcos and Biden.

“It is clear that we’re in a deeply consequential period in terms of our Indo-Pacific engagements,” a senior US official told reporters ahead of Marcos’ arrival.

“It’s really the first kind of meeting at this level and intensity between the United States and the Philippines in decades,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The senior official briefing journalists ahead of Marcos’ visit said Manila is likewise “looking for reassurance and a strong desire to maintain peace and stability in this complex period.”

“Recent events have caused much greater focus in both capitals on taking the necessary steps to up our game, to improve engagement on the security side between United States and the Philippines.”

AFP modernization

Although giving few details, the official said new “bilateral defense guidelines” would see “a series of steps to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization.”

The shifting geostrategic situation will feature when Biden visits Japan for a meeting of the G7 later this month.

The US official said Biden would also meet separately during that trip in a trilateral format with the leaders of Japan and South Korea. He then heads to Australia for a session of the Quad group: Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

Marcos maintained that the Philippines’ only interest is to ensure that the region is peaceful and stable.

“We are not interested in expanding our territory. That is not part of the position of Filipinos,” the President said.

“And so we’ll just, I suppose... make our positions clear to everybody, for both sides so that we know how to proceed because then, again, we’ll talk about the technical aspects of that,” he said.

Lowering the tensions in the region, Marcos said, can be done through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the 10-member regional bloc of which the Philippines is a founding member.

“And I think the best move for us is to stay within ASEAN, keep ASEAN solid, strong and united. So that... at least, we have a consensus and areas of agreement then it will remain strong... ASEAN will still be the one to conduct and to lead the political fortunes of all the other countries around Asia,” the President said.

Evolving MDT

Marcos reiterated that the situation in the region is changing, hence the need for the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) to “evolve.” The accord serves as the basis for the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). He said the issue is “one of the main purposes of the visit.”

“The conditions... under which the Mutual Defense Treaty was written, the original one, are completely different from the conditions that we’re facing now,” he said.

“China, of course, has become very dominant in the region. The United States has become less so... But then the other players, like ASEAN member-states, all the Asian states have also changed their position in the world... That’s why we call it a continuing evolution because we have to be able to respond to the situation as it happens,” he said.

The Oval Office meeting with Marcos is the latest high-level diplomacy with Pacific leaders by Biden as his administration contends with increased military and economic assertiveness by China and worries about North Korea’s nuclear program.

Marcos’ official visit to Washington is the first by a Philippine president in more than 10 years. It was his 10th trip outside the country as Chief Executive.

The US president hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state visit last week in which the two leaders introduced new steps aimed at deterring North Korea from launching an attack on neighbors.

The Philippines and the US are expected to discuss the security situation and come out with new economic, education, climate and other initiatives as part of Marcos’ four-day visit to Washington, a senior administration official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the visit, said Biden administration officials are looking to redevelop “habits of alliance building” with the Philippines as aspects of the historically complicated relationship have “atrophied” over the years.

Biden and Marcos met in September during the UN General Assembly, where the US president acknowledged the two countries’ sometimes “rocky” past.

During their private meeting, Biden stressed to Marcos his desire to improve relations and asked Marcos how the administration could “fulfill your dreams and hopes” for that, according to the senior administration official.

Marcos is also slated to visit the Pentagon, meet Cabinet members and business leaders and make remarks at a Washington think tank during the visit.

Other issues

Aside from defense-related matters, Marcos is also expected to raise during the visit his wish list for priority sectors, including agriculture, power and infrastructure.

“We will have to go into detail or (meet) with many of the big companies who we were not able to see in the other trips in New York and in Davos... Again, to show them what the situation is in the Philippines and hopefully for them to bring investment to our country,” Marcos said.

According to a statement from the Presidential Communications Office, Marcos is on a mission to forge stronger ties with the US for a wide range of areas such as food security, digital economy, energy security and climate change.

The Philippines and the US are also expected to strengthen partnerships in the semiconductor industry, critical minerals, renewable and clean energy, including nuclear, and infrastructure projects designed to improve digital and telecommunication systems and facilitate sustainability efforts to address climate change.

The plane carrying Marcos and his delegation left Villamor Air Base last Sunday at 1:45 p.m. and landed at the Joint Base Andrews in Washington on Monday at 5:10 a.m.

Earlier, the US called on China to stop “provocative and unsafe conduct” in the South China Sea following a near-collision of one its ships with a Philippine coast guard vessel.

“We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Saturday, adding that any attack on Philippine armed forces would trigger a US response.

In Manila, Sen. Francis Tolentino said the US government’s offer to come to the assistance of the Philippines in case China interferes in legitimate operations of its vessels in the West Philippine Sea is sanctioned by the 1951 MDT and covered by international conventions. Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of US Pacific Fleet, made the offer in the wake of an attempt by the Chinese to stop a Philippine vessel from resupplying a military outpost on Ayungin Shoal.

“The said form of assistance is covered by the MDT under Art. II thereof, when it speaks of the ‘development’ of individual and collective capacity. Undoubtedly, resupply of food items in a disputed area is covered by the treaty and specifically when it speaks of its desire ‘strengthen the fabric of peace’,” said Tolentino, who chairs the Senate committees on national defense and security, and on foreign relations.

In an interview with dzBB, Tolentino also said he is seeking the inclusion of “cyber-attack” as trigger for US intervention under the MDT, citing “skirmishes” in cyberspace as well as reports on so-called state-sponsored cyber-attack.

“If there is a cyber-attack on our banking system, it will all collapse – that’s also an armed attack. When our government institutions are also attacked, as was the case with data leaks at the National Bureau of Investigation, that is also considered an armed attack,” he pointed out. — Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe