The proximity of the South-East Asian archipelago to regional flash points could make it particularly vulnerable in the event of a conflict,and Marcos has indicated he will also be seeking reassurances from Biden when he visits him at the White House on Monday.
“It[the treaty] needs to adjust because of the changes in the situation we are facing in the South China Sea,Taiwan,North Korea,” Marcos said in a radio interview this week.
“The situation is heating up.”
Of the US-Philippines relationship,he also said:“What is our partnership? What can be done to tone down or reduce rhetoric? Because there has been an exchange of heated words.”
Most notable were comments in a speech last week by Huang Xilian,the Chinese ambassador in Manila,suggesting the Philippines should oppose Taiwan’s independence unequivocally if it cares about the 150,000 Filipino workers living on the island.
While he later claimed he was taken out of context,the remarks were met with alarm.
Marcos has since met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang,who was visiting Manila at the weekend,and said afterwards his government was looking to improve communications to avoid escalation,including as a result of incidents in the South China Sea.
“We are currently working on that and are awaiting the Chinese response,and we are confident that these issues would be worked out that would be mutually beneficial for both our nations,” Marcos said.
“It was really useful that we were able to speak with Minister Qin Gang,so we can talk directly to one another and iron things out. Some of the pronouncements that have been made recently by our two countries and many other countries might be misinterpreted.”
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China has argued the US will use its additional access to Philippine bases to interfere in the Taiwan Strait and for its own geopolitical purposes.
The Philippines is adamant that the deepening links are just about protecting itself.
“On a clear day,from the northernmost part of the country,you can see Taiwan,” Manuel Romualdez,the Philippine ambassador to the US,told Reuters. “So that’s how close it is.
“Obviously it will affect us ... if anything happens in Taiwan,everybody will be affected,most especially in the ASEAN region,but the whole world.
He added in the interview with the news agency that the Philippines did not want China to “feel that we are out on an offensive because of our relationship with the United States ... everything that we’re doing is purely for the defence of our country.”
With Reuters and Bloomberg
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