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The treaty signed in 1951 required the US and the Philippines to help each other in the event of an attack. US officials have repeatedly assured their Filipino counterparts that they will honor their treaty obligations if Philippine troops, ships and aircraft are attacked in the disputed South China Sea, including by China.
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the agreement could be canceled, replaced or revised after decades. The treaty is America’s oldest existing alliance in Asia.
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“Initial discussions have been held between officials of the two militaries to reach some consensus on how to move forward,” Lorenzana said in a video recorded on an online forum discussing issues surrounding the agreement.
“While the US welcomes the idea of revisiting MDT, outsiders do not. When I first came up with the idea of revisiting MDT, the former Chinese ambassador came to me and said, ‘Please don’t touch MDT, leave it as it is,’” Lorenzana said, without elaborating. AP, Thursday (30/9/2021).
Lorenzana said there were suggestions for revising the agreement to address current regional security concerns, including China’s use of civilian militias instead of military forces to seize territory in disputed waters to avoid a military dispute that could give the US and the Philippines a reason to activate their agreement.
A Filipino diplomat told The Associated Press that China may be concerned that Philippine and US officials might include provisions that could threaten Beijing’s security interests if the agreement was amended. They could acknowledge, for example, the 2016 international arbitration decision that overturned China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea on historical grounds, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of public speaking authority.
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