In a bid to boost the political and military engagement in the wake of Beijing’s continued strong stance in the West Philippine Sea, Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said that the top officials from the defense and foreign affairs of the Philippines and United States are set to meet in Washington for a 2 + 2 ministerial meeting.
Romualdez said that the high-level meeting will involve Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defense officer in charge Carlito Galvez.
They will be meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
According to Romualdez, both camps are in line to discuss various bilateral issues which include defense and security cooperation and significant developments in the economic engagement of the two countries.
“The 2+2 is scheduled sometime in the middle of April,” Romualdez said.
He added that the revival of “this important mechanism” will be healthy for the two allies’ bilateral relationship as they “chart the course of its ties through the enhancement of existing areas of cooperation and the identification of new opportunities.”
“We are now fixing the date. In those meetings we expect to have a very strong indication of how we will proceed with all these agreements and all of these things that have happened in the past couple of months,” he said.
The issue on the recent actions by China in the South China Sea, that included the harassment of Philippine Coast Guard crew and fishermen is likely to be tacked as well.
It will be recalled that Manila denounced the Chinese Coast Guard’s pointing of a military-grade laser at the Philippine supply vessel near Ayungin Soal on Feb. 6.
The incident near Ayungin shoal caused temporary blindness to some of the Filipino Coast Guard crew and prompted Manila to file a strongly worded protest.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also summoned China’s ambassador to personally convey the government’s displeasure over the incident.
Washington called China’s actions “dangerous” and a “threat to regional peace and security” as it renewed its commitment to defend the Philippines against aggression in the South China Sea.
But undeterred, it was reported that there were dozens of Chinese civilian vessels and at least one Navy ship spotted near the Pag-Asa island well within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
Catherine R. Cueto
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