US Vice-President Kamala Harris visited a Philippine island near waters claimed by China to show support for the long-time US ally and counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region.
Harris is the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the western island of Palawan, the closest Philippine landmass to the Spratly archipelago in the hotly contested South China Sea.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire sea and has ignored an international court ruling that its claims have no legal basis.The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims to parts of it.
Harris yesterday met with fisherfolk in a coastal village and members of the Philippine Coast Guard.
In a speech, Harris said “international rules and norms” must be upheld and the UN-backed tribunal decision rejecting China’s claims over the South China Sea respected.
“The United States – and the broader international community – have a profound stake in the future of this region,” she said on board a Philippine Coast Guard vessel.
“As an ally, the United States stands with the Philippines in the face of intimidation and coercion in the South China Sea.”
Harris’ trip to Palawan comes a day after she held talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Manila.
She reaffirmed the United States’ “unwavering” commitment to defending the Philippines if its vessels or aircraft were attacked in the South China Sea.
Washington has a decades-old security alliance with the Philippines that includes a mutual defence treaty and a 2014 pact, known by the acronym EDCA, which allows for the US military to store defence equipment and supplies on five Philippine bases.
It also allows US troops to rotate through those military bases.
EDCA stalled under former president Rodrigo Duterte, but the United States and the Philippines have expressed support for accelerating its implementation as China becomes increasingly assertive.
As regional tensions rise, fuelled by China’s recent war games around Taiwan, Washington is seeking to repair ties with Manila, whose cooperation would be critical in the event of a conflict.
Ties between the two countries fractured under the mercurial Duterte, who favoured China over his country’s former colonial master.
Marcos Jr has sought to strike more of a balance between his superpower neighbours, insisting he will not let China trample on Manila’s maritime rights.
Harris’ visit conveyed a “stronger sense of commitment” to the Philippines’ position on maritime claims, but also underscored the need for EDCA’s continued implementation, said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’s Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.
“The US cannot adequately carry out its obligations if it is forced to stay several thousand kilometres away in Japan or Guam,” he said. — AFP
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