Blinken in Manila next week for PH, US, Japan meet

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken—REUTERS

BERLIN — United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to be back in Manila next week for a trilateral meeting on stronger defense cooperation among Manila, Washington, and Tokyo.

Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said Blinken would arrive on the night of March 18 and was scheduled to see President Marcos in Malacañang the next day.

As to the trilateral ministerial meetings set on March 20, Manalo said the Department of Foreign Affairs had yet to receive confirmation if Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa would make it. Blinken’s first official trip to Manila was in August 2022, less than two months after Mr. Marcos assumed office. His predecessor, Michael Pompeo visited the country in February 2019 during the term of then President Rodrigo Duterte.

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Negotiations are ongoing between the Philippines and Japan for a reciprocal access agreement that would allow their respective military forces to hold large-scale training exercises.

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The Philippines and the United States, on the other hand, are in a decades-old security alliance anchored on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement, and expressed yearly as a public show of force through the “Balikatan” war games.

The push for trilateral cooperation was a response to China’s increasing aggression in the South China Sea. The Philippines and Japan both have maritime disputes with China involving parts of the strategic, resource-rich waterway.