PH, US to finalize 2 pacts this month

ALLIED SUPPORT National Security Adviser Eduardo Año chats with Ambassadors MaryKay Carlson of the United States (second from right), Marie Fontanel of France (second from left) and Hae Kyong Yu of Australia at a forum in Manila Polo Club in Makati City. —Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and the United States will hold in Manila, possibly within the month, another 2+2 foreign and defense ministers’ meeting to finalize previous agreements, including infrastructure commitments at the nine sites under the bilateral Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca).

Ely Ratner, US assistant defense secretary, said the ministerial summit will be attended by State Secretary Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for Washington and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. for Manila.

READ: US-PH Edca: A decade of defense

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ South China Sea Conference in Washington on July 11, Ratner said the meeting would likely tackle the envisioned “General Security of Military Information Agreement,” a proposed military intelligence-sharing accord.

He said Manila and Washington were also working on the “Security Sector Assistance Roadmap” to prioritize shared investments in the modernization of Philippine forces.

READ: No additional Edca sites – Marcos

“The future we’re striving toward is one with greater interoperability and cooperation among like-minded Indo-Pacific partners, and this means enhanced reciprocal access, more participation in larger and more complex regional exercises, greater investment together in advanced capabilities and Manila stands at an intersection of all of that,” Ratner said.

Infrastructure

He said the United States would continue to invest in infrastructure improvements at all nine Edca sites to strengthen combined training, exercises and interoperability. between Filipino and American troops.

The 2014 Edca allows the United States to build and operate facilities on Philippine military bases for both US and Philippine forces.

Under Edca, the five original bases are Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Bautista Air Base in Palawan, Abuen Air Base in Cebu and Lumbia Air Base in Misamis Oriental.

But since China escalated expansive activities in the West Philippine Sea, both Manila and Washington added Naval Base Camilo Osias in Cagayan, Camp Dela Cruz in Isabela, Balabac Island in Palawan and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan.

‘Political circus’

Ratner reiterated Washington’s support for the Philippines as the Chinese Embassy in Manila dismissed as a “political circus” the 2016 arbitral award, which rejected Beijing’s sweeping claim over the South China Sea.

“The said arbitration is essentially a political circus dressed up as a legal action,” the embassy said in a statement on the eighth anniversary of the award on Friday.

“The award thus rendered is illegal, null and void. China does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action thereon. This position has won the support and understanding of more than 100 countries. Many international authoritative law experts and scholars have criticized and called into question the integrity of the arbitral award,” the embassy added.

Beijing has not specifically identified the “more than 100 countries” nor the “many international authoritative law experts and scholars that have expressed for its claim.”

At least 40 jurisdictions, however, have expressed official support for the arbitral award, including the United States, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, Canada, France, Germany, European Union and the United Kingdom, some of which have forged security ties with the Philippines.

“Let me be clear,” Ratner said in Washington, “the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) claim … has no more credibility today than it did when the Arbitral Tribunal issued its unanimous ruling in 2016.”