Hegseth vows to beef up Manila's deterrence capability vs. China threat The Philippines and the United States must stand “shoulder to shoulder” in the
IRONCLAD TIES. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. welcomes United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to the Palace for a meaningful discussion on strengthening security ties and advancing shared strategic goals. During the meeting, Secretary Hegseth emphasized the United States' ‘ironclad commitment’ to the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines, as well as to the two nations' economic and military partnership. PCOHegseth vows to beef up Manila’s deterrence capability vs.
Hegseth said the US will deploy “advanced capabilities” in the Philippines for this year’s Balikatan Exercises, including a Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System and highly capable unmanned surface vessels. “Your visit to the region, and especially the fact that you have come to the Philippines as your first stop, sends a very strong message of the commitment of both our countries to continue to work together,” Mr. Marcos said.
The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, the longest-running defense pact, aims to step up the defense and security cooperation between Philippine and US troops. “We will enhance our current EDCA locations and we will make improvements. Mind you, these are Philippine bases of which we have to invest in. We will enhance them for logistical support…We have talked about establishing a sustainable, effective, and business case-focused defense industrial base which suits our national interests and advances our economic, defense, and other cooperative resilience activities,” Teodoro added.
“We don’t seek intervention. has made it clear we don’t seek war, we don’t seek to nation-build, we don’t seek to use chess pieces, and move them around the board,” Hegseth said.
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