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US VP Harris to meet Philippines' Marcos in effort to boost ties

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Agence France-Presse

<p>MANILA, Philippines - US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Monday during a visit to the Southeast Asian nation aimed at boosting ties between the longstanding allies. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/20/22/us-vp-kamala-harris-arrives-in-manila">US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Manila on official visit</a></li></ul><p>Harris is the highest-ranking US official to visit Manila since Marcos took power in June. </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2348094" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>The trip is part of US efforts to remove any doubt about its commitment to the Asia-Pacific as China expands its clout in the region. </p><p>Relations between the Philippines and the United States were strained for years under the China-friendly former president Rodrigo Duterte. </p><p>Washington is seeking to bolster its security alliance with Manila under a new president and with rising regional tensions.</p><p>That includes a mutual defense treaty and a 2014 pact, known by the acronym EDCA, which allows for the US military to store defense equipment and supplies on several Philippine bases.</p><p>It also allows US troops access to five military bases there.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/15/22/us-eyes-building-5-more-facilities-in-ph-under-edca">US eyes building 5 more facilities in PH under EDCA</a></li></ul><p>EDCA stalled under Duterte but the United States and the Philippines have expressed support for accelerating its implementation as China becomes increasingly assertive.</p><p>&quot;We have identified new locations and have begun a process with the Philippines to finalize those,&quot; a US official told reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of Harris&#x27;s meeting with Marcos and her counterpart Sara Duterte.</p><p>&quot;The United States has allocated over $82 million towards implementation (of the existing bases) and more is on the way.&quot; </p><p>On Tuesday, Harris will visit the Philippine island province of Palawan, which lies along hotly contested waters in the South China Sea.</p><p>China claims sovereignty over almost the entire sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims to parts of it.</p><p>Beijing has ignored a 2016 international tribunal ruling that its claims have no legal basis.</p><p>Harris will meet members of the Philippine Coast Guard on board one of the country&#x27;s two biggest coast guard vessels.</p><p>She will &quot;reaffirm the strength of the alliance and our commitment to upholding the international rules-based order in the South China Sea and the broader Indo-Pacific,&quot; the US official said, using the US term for the Asia-Pacific. </p><p>Harris&#x27;s trip comes after she and US President Joe Biden met separately with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.</p><p>Harris reinforced Biden&#x27;s message that &quot;we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries&quot; while speaking to Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok, a White House official said.</p><p>Among initiatives to be launched during Harris&#x27;s trip to the Philippines are negotiations for a civilian nuclear pact between the United States and the Philippines.</p><p>That could lead to the future sales of US nuclear reactors to the Southeast Asian country.</p><p>Marcos is a strong supporter of renewable energy and has insisted on the need to reconsider building nuclear power plants in the disaster-prone country. </p><p>However, before the United States can sell nuclear equipment to the Philippines, the two countries must sign a civilian nuclear pact known as a &quot;123 agreement&quot;, which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.</p><div><strong>amj/pbt/bfm</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MIT6vnYu9U0?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Monday during a visit to the Southeast Asian nation aimed at boosting ties between the longstanding allies. 