MANILA, Philippines — The 70-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the US needs a “comprehensive review,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, citing evolving “geopolitical realities.”
Lorenzana made the recommendation in remarks at a virtual forum before the weekend sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Much is to be desired in terms of the 70-year-old alliance, given what is happening in the South China Sea and beyond, not to mention the Philippines’ commitment to cultivate more balanced relations with other countries in the region,” Lorenzana said. The defense chief and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. were in the US for the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Philippine-US relations.
“Some questions being asked in Manila are: do we still need the MDT? Should we amend it? Or should we introduce new guidelines to make it more relevant and robust in the 21st century? What is clear is that we need a comprehensive review of our alliance, taking stock of the pros and cons of the MDT and what happened in the past 70 years,” he added.
While the treaty has greatly benefitted the country, it is still “not enough” to make the Philippines stand on its own feet, the defense chief said.
“We cannot be forever relying on others for our security. Helping the Philippines modernize its military would make it a more reliable and dependable ally to the United States in the pursuit of a free and peaceful Indo Pacific,” he said.
While the Visiting Forces Agreement in 1998 and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in 2014 may have filled some gaps, “fundamental concerns” remain, he pointed out.
“The Philippine-US alliance, therefore, will have to evolve in recognition of new geopolitical realities, most especially the rise of China, as well as Manila’s constitutional commitment to a more ‘independent’ foreign policy,” Lorenzana said.
“To be fair, Washington has been increasingly responsive to our concerns over lack of a clear commitment over the ongoing South China Sea disputes,” he added.
Reacting to Lorenzana’s observation, the US embassy cited a statement made in July by visiting US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledging the MDT is old “but is the one the US is committed to.”
In a statement during his visit in Manila and released again by the embassy, Austin said “Secretary Lorenzana reminded me that the treaty is actually older than me, which is pretty old, I think, but – but nonetheless, is one that we are committed to. And again, I would reemphasize that it does extend to the South China Sea.”
Austin said then during his visit that he and Lorenzana discussed additional ways to further deepen long-standing US-Philippine cooperation in key security issues.
“At the top of my agenda was finding ways to enhance and reinvigorate our alliance and our mutual defense treaty. These include maritime cooperation, support to further modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and investments that will help the Philippines navigate the region’s complex security environment,” Austin said.
One of the reasons of his visit, according to the US defense chief, was to reaffirm the “iron-clad” commitment of the US to Philippine security, which “extends to the South China Sea as emphasized by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The commitment to our security partnership with the Philippines is stronger than ever,” Austin said. – Pia Lee-Brago