Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and US President Barack Obama will meet at the White House in Washington, D.C. this Spring.
President Obama extended the invitation to President Aquino during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Indonesia last November. The U.S. Ambassador to Manila recently confirmed that the invitation has been accepted and plans are being made for the two Presidents to meet in May or June.
No agenda has been announced, but the timing suggests that disputes between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea (which the Philippines calls the West Philippine Sea) likely will be a topic of discussion. The presidential meeting will be preceded by a “strategic dialogue” between the Secretaries of Defense and Foreign Affairs of both nations in the U.S. Capitol. Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries of the US and Philippine Defense and Foreign Affairs departments will also be in attendance.
It is also noteworthy that a team of U.S. legislators known for their interest in foreign and military affairs are visiting Manila this week to meet with members of the legislative and executive branches of the Philippine government. Senators John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, and Sheldon Whitehouse will arrive in Manila on Monday.
Thomas declined to elaborate on the meeting’s agenda. Asked if the West Philippine Sea would be on the agenda, he feigned ignorance. As reported in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, when a reporter asked if the US will help maintain peace in the WPS, “Thomas said, ‘What’s the WPS?’ Told that it’s the West Philippine Sea, Thomas said ‘Oh, wow!’ before bursting into laughter.”
The US has publicly stated that it takes no sides in the disputes between China and its neighbors including the Philippines, but it has supported the Philippines’ position that the disputes should be resolved through multilateral negotiations, as opposed to the bi-lateral negotiations China has proposed.
John Howley
Find more like this: ASEAN, Mutual Defense Agreement, South China Sea, West Philippine Sea
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