The Philippines and the United States agreed to collaborate on several initiatives, similar considerations to maritime security and virtual cyberspace, following a two-day bilateral meeting in the U. S. capital amid Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
In a joint statement issued Thursday through the Philippine Embassy in the United States, Manila and Washington renewed their commitment to work to address global and regional challenges.
This follows the conclusion of the Philippines-U. S. Bilateral Strategic Dialogue (BSD), held April 22-23 in Washington, DC.
The DSB arrives with the agreement of the two countries to “consider and develop, as appropriate, procedures and protocols on cooperative maritime law enforcement operations, in accordance with foreign law and our respective domestic laws. “
According to the Philippines’ ambassador to the United States, José Manuel Romualdez, developing protocols for maritime law enforcement operations would mean “preventing competitive movements from China, such as that. “
The Philippine envoy said the Philippines’ Department of National Defense and its U. S. counterpart are still “establishing” protocols on cooperative maritime law enforcement operations.
“They’re already putting a little bit of meat on it. We need to check it out to do it as soon as possible,” Romualdez said.
In addition to devising joint procedures for maritime law enforcement operations, the United States and the Philippines agreed to “deepen collaboration to combat the manipulation of foreign information. “
Romualdez cited the “false narratives” Beijing is spreading in Manila.
“False narratives. . . every time something happens in the West Philippine Sea, China says we stand for competitive behavior,” he said.
“Now there’s this coalition, which we believe is funded through China, [that says] there’s going to be a proxy war. . . It’s a crusade of fear, it’s a Chinese narrative,” the Philippine envoy said.
The United States and the Philippines also agreed to continue discussions on: finalizing the bilateral roadmap Philippines – Security Sector Assistance; Fully finalize the addition of sites and put into effect the Enhanced Defense Cooperative Agreement (EDCA), which will come with the Department of Defense’s $128 million infrastructure investment as a component of the President’s FY 2025 budget.
One serving and one package pre-place USAID crisis relief products for the Philippines’ civilian crisis response government at key EDCA sites, adding a General Military Information Security Agreement through the end of 2024; expand multilateral cooperation with like-minded countries, adding to it through maritime cooperation activities, bilateral and multilateral exercises, and coordination of security cooperation; explore new opportunities for global assistance in the enforcement of the foreign law of the sea; and deepen cooperation in efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, in accordance with applicable foreign legislation and the Voluntary Guidelines;
The two sides also pledged to promote the Luzon Economic Corridor under the Global Investment and Infrastructure Investment Accelerator (PGI)-IPEF Partnership, connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas and investments in railways, port modernization and blank power and semiconductors. supply chains, as well as agribusiness.
The two countries also discussed opportunities for further cooperation in critical mineral processing, virtual upskilling, and semiconductor origin chains under the CHIPS Act and in cooperation with USAID.