Blinken heads to Philippines to bolster alliance amid tensions in China

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will seek to strengthen America’s alliance with the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a two-day visit to Manila as tensions between the United States and China rise .

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(Bloomberg) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken will seek to strengthen America’s alliance with the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a two-day visit to Manila as tensions between the United States and China are increasing.

Blinken will advocate for stronger ties with the Southeast Asian nation on pandemic recovery, energy, trade and investment when he meets with the newly elected president on Saturday, according to a State Department statement. He is the first U.S. cabinet-level official to visit the new Philippines leader, who took power in late June.

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His arrival comes as China seeks to strengthen ties with the Philippines – a former US colony and longtime treaty ally – after the Southeast Asian nation’s fragile relationship with the United States in recent years. years. Relations between Washington and Manila soured under former President Rodrigo Duterte, who dismissed US criticism of its human rights record and promised an ‘independent foreign policy’ that included closer ties with Beijing .

While Marcos said he wanted to strengthen trade relations with the United States instead of an « addiction » to aid, and signaled an openness to joining an economic initiative pushed by President Joe Biden to counter the Chinese influence, Beijing made early efforts to consolidate its gains in the Philippines.

China sent Vice President Wang Qishan to appoint Marcos, while the Biden administration was represented by Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, Douglas Emhoff.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Marcos last month and both sides pledged to maintain a strong relationship. The Philippines has locked horns with China in recent years over Beijing’s growing presence in the resource-rich South China Sea. Marcos said he would not cede « even a square centimeter of territory » to any foreign power.

Blinken’s trip to Manila follows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit this week to Taiwan, which escalated tensions between the United States and China.

The United States will want to keep the Philippines a close ally in the region through Blinken’s visit, especially given Manila’s proximity to Taiwan, said Herman Kraft, who teaches political science at the University of the Philippines.

« There’s a lot of attention given to the Philippines so early in the Marcos administration to keep China out of any incursions, » Kraft said. « The United States wants to make sure that it maintains the Philippines as an ally and does not go to the other extreme of being an ally of China. »

Marcos faces a $354 million contempt of court fine in the United States after failing to comply with rulings on the disbursement of his family’s assets. Despite this, US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said during a visit in June that Marcos would be welcome in the United States given his diplomatic immunity.