Any change in US leadership won't affect alliance with Philippines: Blinken

ANKARA

Any possible change in the US leadership following the upcoming presidential election will not affect the country's commitments to the Philippines, its longtime ally in Asia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

With slightly over three months before Americans choose a new president in November, Blinken said that the longstanding alliance between the US and the Philippines "doesn't change from election to election," according to the local daily the Philippine Star.

“We have a Mutual Defense Treaty that the United States is committed to, that commitment will endure,” Blinken said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Philippines' Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.

The US will provide $500 million in military funding to the Philippines, he said.

Blinken and Austin are in Manila for a so-called "2+2" dialogue with their Philippine counterparts, a visit that is part of their 10-day tour across six countries in Asia.

"Elections are a regular feature of our democracy. What's also a regular feature is a long-standing alliance between our countries," Blinken was quoted as saying.

Austin said that support for the Philippines in the US is bipartisan. "And any time you see that level of bipartisan support, you can bet that support will continue," he added.

Manila's Foreign Secretary Manalo said that with the bilateral relations between the two allies spanning over seven decades, the Philippines-US alliance has "withstood the test of time."

In 2014, the Philippines and the US signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a pact that observers say is part of a broader strategy to counter China in the South China Sea.

The agreement grants the US military access to Philippine bases for joint training, positioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing.

Manila identifies parts of vast South China Sea as West Philippine Sea.

Manila and Beijing are engaged in a tussle over maritime jurisdiction and the tensions escalated in recent past over the Philippines resupply missions to its deliberately grounded World War II-era warship on disputed atolls.

However, the two sides recently reached a pact for smooth supplies, while China has warned the Southeast Asian nation against supplying construction material to BRP Sierra Madre.

The Philippines is the oldest ally of the US in the region since they established diplomatic ties on July 4, 1946.

Later in the 1950s, they signed a Mutual Defense Treaty under which Washington could help respond to aggression on the Philippines.