NextGen Day

In light of the changing security threats in the Indo-Pacific, senior diplomatic and defense officials from the Philippines and the United States have decided to “modernize” their partnership.

The agreement was established during the third US-Philippines 2+2 ministerial conference, which took place on Wednesday morning (Manila time) in Washington DC and was presided over by US counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III.

The secretaries decided to keep talking about potential dangers in the region’s many domains, including land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace, as well as effective ways to counter them.

They also underlined their “common determination to fight against an armed attack from without in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.”

In the press conference that followed the meeting, Manalo stated, “We redoubled our commitment to upgrading the Philippine-US alliance, realizing that our partnership will need to play a stronger role in sustaining an international legal-based order.”

This entails making sure that joint exercises, training, and other relevant activities are conducted at a high level, with high impact, and with a high value.

How to boost collaboration and “strategic convergence” on counterterrorism and solving grey zone problems are a few of the topics covered in the 2+2.

Experts define “grey zone activities” as actions taken to deter a nation from defending itself but that do not rise to the level of aggression.

According to commentators, grey zone activities in the West Philippine Sea could involve the deployment of fishing boats and marine militia in the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

SCS joint patrols

Along with confirming the potential inclusion of “like-minded partners” in multilateral maritime actions in the South China Sea “later this year,” the four officials also agreed to finalize plans for the restart of “combined sails” between the US and Filipino Navies.

The Australian ambassador to the Philippines, HK Yu, said last month that “discussion on the combined patrols with the US, Philippines, and Japan in international waters are ongoing” despite the fact that no country was particularly mentioned.

When contacted for comment on Wednesday, the Australian Embassy in Manila stated that it was aware of the talks taking place between Manila and Washington, DC, and only reaffirmed its “commitment to establishing efficient security relationships in our close vicinity.”

Forces from the Philippines, the United States, and Australia may improve preparedness and response skills amid real-world problems by working together in training, according to the statement.

The Balikatan exercise offers the Australian Defence Force a valuable opportunity to train with regional partners to enhance multinational interoperability and strengthen regional partnerships in a dynamic security environment, it added. “Strong relationships are the foundation for responding to shared security challenges.”

Also, the Japanese Embassy in Manila was contacted for comment, but as of the time of writing, no official remark had been made.

covert reclaiming of land

The four secretaries attacked purported “covert” reclamation activity in various uninhabited Spratly Islands features during the same conference.

The secretaries “noted with concern recent reports regarding the conduct of further covert land reclamation on unoccupied features in the Spratly Islands and rejected the use of reclamation as a means of rationalizing or propagating unlawful maritime claims,” according to a joint statement from them.

The four emphasized that this “violates in no uncertain terms the fundamental precepts set forth in the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea.”

Last year, Bloomberg cited anonymous Western officials as sources and claimed that Beijing has begun constructing a number of land features in the uninhabited northern part of the Spratlys.

In December 2022, the Chinese Foreign Ministry refuted this story, claiming Beijing adheres to the DOC.

When pressed for specifics, the Department of Foreign Affairs has not yet responded.

In the meantime, the US and the Philippines both urged China to “completely comply with the final and legally binding” arbitration ruling on the South China Sea from 2016.

The four officials said in a joint statement that the award, which was created under the Law of the Sea Convention of 1982, “is final and legally binding on the parties and validates the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction with respect to its EEZ and continental shelf, including maritime areas in the vicinity of Reed Bank, Mischief Reef, and Second Thomas Shoal, also known in the Philippines as Recto Bank, Panganiban Reef, and Ayungin Shoal, respectively.”

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