MANILA: The Philippines wants to keep its visiting forces deal with the US, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Thursday, amid growing concern at China’s expansive maritime activities in the region.
The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), signed in 1998, grants legal status to US forces temporarily stationed in the Philippines, a former US colony, for exercises, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
“We at the defense department and the armed forces, the general feeling is for the Visiting Forces Agreement to continue,” Lorenzana said in a TV interview.
President Rodrigo Duterte canceled the agreement in February last year after a Philippine senator and close ally was denied a US visa. He has since twice suspended the termination of the pact.
“The final decision to push through with the termination or withdraw the notice rests on the president,” Lorenzana said.
The defense chief said that Washington and Manila officials are due to meet this month to discuss military and security cooperation, the first such meeting under the administration of President Joe Biden.
He said the pact has been vital in allowing US and Philippine forces to “work together,” and enhance the capabilities of Philippine troops.
The Biden administration last month reaffirmed its support for the Philippines in the face of China’s growing assertiveness after Beijing passed a law allowing its coast guard to open fire on foreign vessels in the South China Sea.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, which is a major trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
The VFA’s importance was highlighted by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during his introductory phone call with Lorenzana on Wednesday.
Lorenzana said Austin mentioned US support for “a free and unimpeded Indo-Pacific region, South China Sea especially.”
