Strong support from the United States for the Philippines will remain unchanged regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican president is elected to the White House, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.
Asked if Washington’s support and commitments to the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific region would remain in case of a change in the party in power after the November U.S. elections, Blinken said: “The alliance between our countries doesn’t change from election to election.”
“We have a Mutual Defense Treaty that the United States is committed to, that commitment will endure,” Blinken said at a joint press conference after the two-plus-two talks between top US and Philippines defense and foreign affairs officials in Manila.
Austin said that the Philippines has bilateral support from the US regardless of who wins in the November elections.
“You can bet that support will continue in good fashion. That’s going to happen going forward in the future,” Austin said. “I’ve said a number of times that we’re more than allies, we’re family.”
