United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week assured that the U.S. would uphold its treaty with the Philippines in the event the latter country is attacked in the South China Sea.
Pompeo, who arrived in Manila on Thursday night, February 28, said during his joint press conference on Friday with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. that under the two countries’ 68-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), any attack on Philippine forces or vessels would provide certain protections.
Pompeo’s two-day state visit marks his first time in the Philippines as secretary of state.
“As the South China Sea is part of the Pacific, any armed attack on any Philippine forces, aircraft, or public vessels in the South China Sea will trigger mutual defense obligations under Article 4 of our mutual defense treaty,” he said.
He added that China’s island-building and military activities in the South China Sea threaten the Philippines’ “sovereignty, security, and economic livelihood as well as that of the U.S.”
Ahead of Pompeo’s visit, both U.S. and Philippine officials have been discussing the review of the MDT, to which Locsin on Friday said would require “further thought.”
“We are very assured, we’re very confident, that the United States has — in the words of Trump to our president: We have your back,” Locsin said during the joint press conference.
South China Sea expert Greg Poling welcomed Pompeo’s remarks as a “huge” development, noting that the U.S. presence would help in discouraging China in its claim towards the said territory.
“I think it’s huge. This establishes a clear deterrent for the Chinese. It says that there should be no question that violence against Pag-Asa (Island) or the Sierra Madre, for instance, would result in a U.S. response,” Poling told Rappler.
The U.S. secretary of state was welcomed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte at Villamor Airbase on Thursday night, after the latter arrived from Hanoi, Vietnam.
He was scheduled to update Duterte on the developments from the nuclear summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-un, according to Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez.
Also present at the meeting were Locsin, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Assistant Secretary Lumen Esleta of the Office of American Affairs and Duterte’s former aide Christopher Go.
Pompeo was accompanied by Ambassador Sung Kim, Senior Bureau Official Patrick Murphy and State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Palladino.
Pompeo warns PH of Huawei
During his joint conference with Locsin on Friday, Washington’s top diplomat issued a warning against the use of devices from Chinese communications equipment provider Huawei Technologies.
“We believe that competition, whether it’s in 5G or some other technology, ought to be open, free, transparent, and we worry that Huawei is not that,” Pompeo said.
He noted that the Chinese provider might prevent the United States from operating its own equipment in the Philippines. There is a risk “that America may not be able to operate in certain environments if there is Huawei technology adjacent to that,” he added.
He championed partnering with American companies for infrastructure and digital projects because of how they “operate with the highest standards of transparency and adherence to the rule of law.”
He said, “Our task has been to share with the world the risks associated with that technology, the risks to the Filipino people, the risk to Philippine security. The same cannot be said for Chinese state-run or state-backed enterprises.”
