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Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters at the State Department in Washington, U.S., January 21, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and US State Secretary Marco Rubio talk about 'sustaining the momentum' in bilateral ties
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and his newly-confirmed counterpart, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, discussed late Wednesday, January 22, China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” and ways to advance security ties.
“Secretary Rubio conveyed that the [People’s Republic of China’s] behavior undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law…. The Secretaries also exchanged views on ways to advance security cooperation, expand economic ties for shared prosperity, and deepen avenues for further regional cooperation,” said Tammy Bruce, State Department spokesperson, in a readout about the first official conversation between the two foreign affairs heads.
Manalo, in a post on X late January 22, said they discussed the “importance of the PH-US alliance for the prosperity and security of the Indo-Pacific, and the strength of our bilateral political, economic, and people-to-people ties.”
Based on the list of readouts posted by the State Department, Rubio’s conversation with Manalo took place after the new State Secretary’s meetings in Washington with his Quad counterparts and before speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Quad refers to the a group that counts the US, Japan, Australia, and India, as members.
A joint statement from that meeting indicated the four countries’ “shared commitment to strengthening a Free and Open Indo-Pacific where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty, and territorial integrity are upheld and defended.”
“We also strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” said the foreign ministers of the US, Japan, Australia, and India.
The United States is the Philippines’ only treaty-ally, and both are bound to each other by the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). The two also have a Visiting Force Agreement, which allows American soldiers to train in US soil and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which allows the US to preposition assets in select Philippine military camps.
Ties between the two grew closer in the past three years or so under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former president Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor. It was under Biden’s watch that four new EDCA sites were agreed upon, and the US announced $500 million in foreign military financing.
“We look forward to working with Secretary Rubio and his team towards addressing challenges and sustaining the momentum and positive trajectory in our bilateral relations,” Manalo added.
Manila has been working on bringing allies like the US and traditional security partners like Japan and Australia closer, amid China’s aggression in asserting its claims over Philippine waters. It was also under Biden that leaders of the Philippines, Japan, and US met for the first time for a trilateral summit.
The Philippines has been working on forging deeper ties with countries like Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and France, and blocs like the European Union.
PH supporter
In his confirmation hearing on January 15, Rubio said that “the Chinese believe that the US are a great power in inevitable decline and that they are in inevitable rise. They already are… and we are going to have to deal with them.”
“The danger is, because of our own actions… we allowed them for years to pretend that they were some developing country, so we should allow them to continue to cheat on trade and commerce… They lied about not militarizing island chains in the South China Sea and the like,” Rubio said during the hearing.
As a senator, Rubio introduced a bill meant to “better support the Philippines diplomatically, economically, and militarily as they counter Communist China’s aggression in the South China Sea.”
The call between Manalo and Rubio comes a week after Philippine and Chinese diplomats met in Xiamen and reaffirmed their commitment to diplomacy in tackling South China Sea tensions, even as Philippine security officials raised alarm over the continued presence of a China Coast Guard ship just 60-90 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales.
A day before the January 16 meeting in Xiamen, the Philippine Navy held a unilateral drill near the disputed Scarborough Shoal close to Zambales. Days after on January 19, the United States and the Philippines held their first maritime joint exercise in 2025 near Palawan. – Rappler.com
