US, PH officials meet in Washington for talks amid new tension with...

a previous push by Manila to improve ties with China.

After condemnation from Beijing, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said that Manila would not take “any offensive actions” from the four bases, as well from five others agreed to with Washington in a 2014 agreement.

“If no one is attacking us, they need not worry because we will not fight them,” Marcos told reporters Monday, April 10.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) is a “key pillar” of the alliance between the Philippines and the US as they aim to “reforge” their relations.

Manalo made the remark on Monday in Washington, DC during a forum organized by the Center for Strategic International Studies) ahead of the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between top foreign affairs and defense officials of both countries.

Manalo and Defense department Officer-in-Charge Carlito Galvez Jr. will WITH Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin.

The Philippines and the U.S., he continued, are also conducting this month “the biggest joint [Balikatan] exercise in EDCA history” with over 17,600 troops and observers from Japan and Australia.

“The EDCA is a ‘key pillar’ of our alliance, and the Balikatan (shoulderto-shoulder) exercises, for the first time, builds on our interoperability in the context of external defense,” Manalo said in a speech.

He noted that the 2+2 Dialogue “highlights the positive trajectory of our bilateral relations, which is happening now at all levels, and the shared intention of Manila and Washington to sustain this momentum”.

“This ‘reforging’ of our alliance is taking place on the heels of the 75th anniversary of our formal diplomatic relations and the 70th year of the conclusion of the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Manalo said.

He, however, declined to provide more information when asked whether U.S. weaponry such as artillery and missile systems be allowed on Edca sites for possible defense of Taiwan against Chinese invasion.

“I think at this stage we basically identified the sites. There will have to be, as in the case of the other sites, discussions on terms of reference, the type of activities, and I think these all have to be agreed on,” Manalo said.

“So at this stage it’s really very difficult to respond to questions like that. It will all depend on how discussions go on the type of activities and the terms of reference of those activities within any of those sites,” he added.

Months earlier, the United States reached a separate agreement with Japan, a fellow ally on the other side of Taiwan, to disperse U.S. forces across the southern island of Okinawa, another move seen as preparing for a potential Chinese move on Taiwan.

Beijing on Monday completed three days of military exercises said to simulate sealing Taiwan, a selfgoverning democracy it considers part of its territory.

The show of force came after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met in California with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is second in line to the U.S. presidency, in defiance of Beijing’s warnings. (With reports from Agence France-Presse) n