15/01/2025
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
January 15, 2025
๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐-๐๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ
US Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized the importance of maintaining the steadfast support of the United States for the Philippines, particularly in light of China's continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
"Indeed, and I will tell you from my first visit to Manila and our first conversation, it is extremely important to me and to the United States that we reaffirm the commitment to the defense of the Philippines including the South China Sea," Vice President Harris told President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during the two leaders' phone call late Tuesday.
The call between Harris and President Marcos came just a few days after a trilateral phone conversation involving US President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru on Monday.
Harris reflected on her historic visit to the Philippines, especially her trip to Palawan in November 2022, which she said underscored "the vulnerability in the region."
She noted the visit strengthened President Biden's resolve to support the Philippines in terms of both security and prosperity.
"I know there is bipartisan support within the United States Congress and within the US for the strength of this relationship and the enduring nature of it in terms of security, but again prosperity and to your point of people-to-people ties," Harris told President Marcos.
In response, President Marcos expressed gratitude for the US Vice President's sentiments, highlighting the robust and productive partnership between the Philippines and the United States.
"Madame Vice President, before I came to this call I was going through all of the things that we had discussed in the past couple of years. And it is remarkable how much work we have been able to do and how much it has progressed and developed the relationship between our two countries. Already very strong relationship but evolving and evolving for the modern challenges that we face, both for us and the South China Sea and for the United States around the world," President Marcos said.
"As I told President Biden when I spoke to him, I said that, I remember ... just before we signed the trilateral agreement in Washington, that, I said to President Biden that this will change the dynamic of the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific. And it certainly has done that," he added.
President Marcos also emphasized the ties among the Philippines, the US and Japan have gained recognition within ASEAN, strengthening their collective position on pressing issues in the West Philippine Sea.
He further acknowledged Vice President Harris' significant contributions to the Philippines, stating that her efforts have provided a strong foundation for continued collaboration between the two nations.
The President particularly noted the economic, diplomatic, defense and security levels, which he described as "terribly encouraging."
President Marcos said he hopes "to build on that and continue to work" on what the two nations have begun grounded on shared values and international law.
Before the telephone call concluded, President Marcos invited Harris to visit the Philippines again.
President Marcos had a meeting with Harris before the beginning of the APEC conference in San Francisco in November 2023.
The meeting centered on the Philippine assessment on the situation in the West Philippines Sea.
They met previously when Harris visited Manila in November 2022; the Vice President hosting President Marcos at the Naval Observatory in May 2023; a bilateral meeting on the margins of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta in September 2023; and a trilateral meeting with Japan Prime Minister Kishida in Jakarta in September 2023.
The Philippines and the US established formal diplomatic relations on July 4, 1946.
The United States is the Philippinesโ oldest and only treaty ally. Bilateral defense and security engagement remains the key pillar of PH-U.S. bilateral relations and is carried out within the framework of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), and other bilateral agreements.
In 2023, the US ranked as the third top trading partner of the Philippines with total trade valued at US$19.96 billion. | PND
๐ท from the APEC meeting
