MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday said he will press US counterpart Joe Biden to make clear the extent of Washington’s commitment to protect his country under a 1951 security pact, citing growing regional tension.
The past two Philippine administrations have urged former colonial power United States to be specific on the circumstances under which it would defend its ally under the Mutual Defense Treaty, amid fears of an increased risk of confrontation in the South China Sea.
Marcos will hold talks with Biden in Washington this weekend, a meeting the White House said would reaffirm its “ironclad commitments to the defense of the Philippines.”
“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.
“The situation is heating up,” he added.
The push for clarity comes amid a steady buildup of military and coast guard assets by Beijing in the South China Sea, including artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago that are equipped with missile systems within range of the Philippines.
It also comes as the Biden and Marcos administrations seek to boost their military alliance, demonstrated this year by the largest-ever US troop presence at annual war games and the Philippines almost doubling the number of its military bases that Washington can access.
The Philippines has said the agreement in bases was for its self-defense purposes.
China, however, says the pact with the United States is stoking the fire of regional tensions.
Marcos on Monday said he and Biden should discuss what exactly their alliance entails and how to manage tension with China.
“What is our partnership? What can be done to tone down or reduce rhetoric? Because there have been an exchange of heated words,” he said.
Philippines’ Marcos Jr. to seek specifics from Biden on US defense commitment
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Philippines’ Marcos Jr. to seek specifics from Biden on US defense commitment
- Past two Philippine administrations have urged the US to be specific on the circumstances under which it would defend its ally under the Mutual Defense Treaty
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
