US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday said that the US President Donald Trump administration would boost military ties with the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against “threats from the communist Chinese” and ensure freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea.
Hegseth spoke during a meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the Philippines, his first stop in his first trip to Asia to reaffirm Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to the region under Trump. Ahead of the visit, China called the US a “predator” and an unreliable ally.
Trump’s “America first” foreign policy thrust has triggered concerns in Asia about the scale and depth of US commitment to the region.
Photo: AP
Hegseth’s decision to make the Philippines his first stop in Asia, followed by Japan — both US treaty allies facing territorial disputes with China — was the strongest assurance yet by the US under Trump to maintain a security presence in the region.
“Deterrence is necessary around the world but specifically in this region, in your country, considering the threats from the communist Chinese,” Hegseth told Marcos.
“Friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict, to ensure that there is free navigation whether you call it the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea,” Hegseth said.
“Peace through strength is a very real thing,” he said, praising the Philippines for standing “very firm” to defend its interests in the contested waters.
Under the former US president Joe Biden’s administration, the US repeatedly warned that it is obligated to help defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under an armed attack in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea.
Hegseth echoed that pledge by expressing “the ironclad commitment” of Trump and him “to the Mutual Defense Treaty and to the partnership.”
Marcos told the US defense chief that by visiting the Philippines first in Asia he “sends a very strong message of the commitment of both our countries to continue to work together to maintain the peace in the Indo-Pacific region, within the South China Sea.”
“We have always understood the principle that the greatest force for peace in this part of the world would be the United States,” Marcos said.
Hegseth’s visit to the Philippines comes a month before the longtime treaty allies hold the “Balikatan,” Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder, their largest annual combat exercises that include live-fire drills.
In recent years, the exercises have been held near the South China Sea and the sea border between the Philippines and Taiwan.
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