WAR GAMES PREP American soldiers prepare missiles for the Avenger air defense system, a self-propelled surface-to-air missile system, during a live-fire demonstration in this year’s Philippine-US “Balikatan” military exercises in San Antonio, Zambales, on Tuesday, April 24, 2023. (Photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
WASHINGTON D.C., United States — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Sunday (Monday Manila time) said the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the US and the Philippines must “evolve” to be responsive to changing times.
Marcos earlier said he would take up with his US counterpart Joe Biden the MDT and the Visiting Forces Agreement, to reexamine and review these, saying they need to evolve with the changing situation.
“That’s pretty much what we’re going to talk about now. The reason it has to evolve is because the conditions are changing. The conditions under which the MDT was written, the original one are completely different from conditions that we’re facing now,” he told reporters on board the plane en route to Washington.
He cited as an example China becoming “very dominant” in the region while the US had become “less so.”
He added that other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as other Asian nations have also changed their position.
“That’s why we call it a continuing evolution because we have to be able to respond to the situation as it happens. Once the situation changed, we should also still be able to be responsive to that,” he added.
Marcos is in Washington for a four-day official visit to the US, where he will meet Biden to discuss military cooperation deals.
The White House earlier said that the US would be expected to reaffirm its “ironclad commitment” in the defense of the Philippines during the meeting between the two heads of state.
Biden and Marcos will tackle regional matters and joint efforts to “uphold international law and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it added.