Posted on 06/03/2020 10:46:21 AM PDT by BeauBo
The Philippines has suspended its plan to terminate a key defense pact with the United States, Manila's top diplomat announced Tuesday, after President Rodrigo Duterte in early 2020 threatened to pull his country out of the bilateral agreement...
In the letter, which was dated Monday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs indicated that its decision in February to scrap the VFA was "hereby suspended" due to "political and other developments in the region," and that Manila had decided to hold off for six months on its planned withdrawal...
"The abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement has been suspended upon the president's instruction," Locsin said in his tweets...
In late January, the Philippine president threatened to terminate the pact with Washington after Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a former national police chief who had led the Duterte administration's controversial war on illegal drugs, said the United States had revoked his American visa.
The VFA has allowed large-scale joint military drills with U.S. forces, which defense analysts said were vital to the Philippines as it faces a challenge from China over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Apart from the Philippines and China, the potentially mineral-rich waterway is claimed in whole or in part by Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan.
For nearly two decades, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been negotiating a code of conduct to regulate behavior in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has carried out freedom of navigation flights and sail throughs in the sea region, amid Chinese naval movements and other actions there.
(Excerpt) Read more at globalsecurity.org ...
Smart move
Sounds like they don’t want to go it alone against China...
Yankee imperialism doesn’t look so bad now with Red China breathing down your neck.
Smart for us?
They speak english + tagalog. Perhaps they are worried about becoming tri-lingual.
That’s one hungry assed tiger on the prowl in their neighborhood. We need each other.
China’s sabre rattling toward Hong Kong and Taiwan make things a bit tense ‘in the region.’
When I read about the Philippine plan, I literally laughed aloud. They are in so much trouble and need so much help that telling the US to take a hike was tantamount to slow suicide. Of all the countries threatened by China, as well as ongoing insurgencies, they are the least equipped to handle the issues. Also there’s this from Bing:
“The United States and the Philippines have a strong trade and investment relationship, with over $27 billion in goods and services traded (2016). The United States is one of the largest foreign investors in the Philippines, and is the Philippines’ third-largest trading partner.”
Actually they speak dozens of languages. Ilocano being another. And lots of Filipino names are Chinese names that have been altered. I have heard for example that Cory Aquino’s middle name, Cojuangco, was originally Kwong Ko.
lol
A form of Welfare addiction...
Most Filipinos would trust America more than China, but they are desperate for investment which is why Duterte has been friendly with the Chinese and did not make a big deal of them taking over the Spratly Islands. I believe China intends to control the whole region eventually and nobody in the region could stop them. Maybe Japan should build up their military and forge closer links with India. God only knows what the future holds for that part of the world.
Oh so now they want us to defend their butt?
Free help. Who’d turn that down?
many Filipinos are TRI-lingual adding a regional dialect to your list of English and tagalog , like Capapangan Some college educated even speak Spanish a hold over from the 19th century
Communist China has not provided any loans, grants or other promises.
I think they just wanted a better deal.
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