Foreign Minister Manalo reveals following videoconference with Blincoln
Competition to ’embrace’ the two rivers for a strategic strategic point in Southeast Asia
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(Hanoi = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Bum-soo = The stock price of the Philippines, a strategically important location, is rising as the US and China are fighting over the expansion of influence in Southeast Asia.
Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo announced on the 7th that US President Joe Biden had invited President Ferdinand Marcos to Washington the day before.
Manalo said following a videoconference with US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln who was visiting the Philippines.
The Philippines is a strategic military and economic hub in Southeast Asia, where the US and China are engaged in a fierce diplomatic battle to expand their influence.
The Philippines is an ally of the United States, but former President Rodrigo Duterte has been friendly to China, criticizing the US foreign policy.
Accordingly, the United States is making various efforts to improve relations with the Philippines with Marcos’ election as president.
Earlier, President Biden made a phone call to congratulate Marcos following winning the May 9 election, proposing to strengthen the alliance.
After arriving in the Philippines on the night of the 5th, Blincoln visited President Marcos the next day.
It is the first visit by a US Secretary of State to the Philippines since Secretary Mike Pompeo met with then-President Duterte during the Trump administration in February 2019.
“The alliance between the two countries is strong and will grow stronger,” Blincoln said at the meeting.
In particular, targeting China, which frequently invades Philippine waters while claiming sovereignty over the South China Sea, he emphasized, “If our allies are attacked, we will defend ourselves according to the treaty.”
Marcos also emphasized the importance of military alliances.
However, he took a rather cold stance on the situation in which the tension between the US and China has escalated following the recent visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
“The situation surrounding Taiwan has already been unstable for a long time,” he said.
Marcos personally has bad memories of America.
In 1995, when the Hawaii District Court ordered the victims of his father’s dictatorship to pay $2 billion in fraudulent ammunition once morest the Marcos family, he refused to do so, and was charged with contempt of court.
Marcos and his mother, Imelda, were also fined $335 million.
In this regard, the US embassy in Manila said, “The head of state has diplomatic immunity.”
China is also doing its best to embrace the Philippines with Marcos’ election as an opportunity.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited President Marcos on the 6th of last month to discuss ways to cooperate between the two countries.
When he suggested that we seek a solution through dialogue and communication regarding the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, Marcos also replied that he wanted to find a amicable solution.
Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a congratulatory message to Marcos on May 11, saying, “I hope to establish a good business relationship.”
Afterwards, during a phone conversation with Marcos, he suggested that we try to promote cooperation between the two countries.
bumsoo@yna.co.kr
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2022/08/07 10:51 Send
