Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez on Monday confirmed that Manila and Washington are expected to hold a “2-plus-2 meeting” of top diplomatic and defense officials in Manila in March.
Romualdez has confirmed a Nikkei report citing sources on the discussions, saying there is an “intention” to hold a meeting, except that the plan is “still a work in progress.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are expected to meet with counterparts Enrique Manalo and Gilberto Teodoro in March, the first of such dialogue in the Philippines since the format began in 2012, the report said.
However, Romualdez did not elaborate on what will be the agenda of the planned meeting, which comes at a time of simmering tensions between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea.
Romualdez’s statement effectively confirmed an earlier statement by US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson that the US and the Philippines have agreed to continue their defense cooperation, including the conduct of the series of joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea this year.
Carlson made the assurance after meeting with Teodoro and officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to discuss plans for defense cooperation.
“Certainly, this coming year, we expect both of our militaries to continue to cooperate and to exercise and to do whatever it takes both bilaterally, multilaterally to ensure the safety of our peoples,” Carlson said.
The US envoy did not elaborate on the discussions of future joint patrols.
However, Armed Forces chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. earlier expressed support for more joint patrols with the US forces, saying these exercises were necessary to better enforce a rules-based international order.
The Philippines has a military alliance with the US under the Mutual Defense Treaty. The US Embassy in Manila said they have nothing to announce at this time.