Philippines should not be made to choose between US, China —Lorenzana

The Philippines should not be made to choose between the United States and China amid the two powerful nations' rivalry, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Thursday.

Lorenzana made the remark in a television interview a day after his phone conversation with his US counterpart, Lloyd J. Austin III, where the US official asserted his country's support to the Philippines' 2016 arbitral victory against China regarding disputed waters in the South China Sea.

"We also have to nurture our relationship with China as a very close neighbor and we have a lot of engagement with them,” Lorenzana told ANC.

"We cannot choose between the two. We should not be made to choose between supporting the US or supporting China."

Regarding his phone conversation with Austin, Lorenzana said they “touched some important matters like the Visiting Forces Agreement, the situation in the South China Sea.”

“He also mentioned about their support of the arbitral ruling and the policy that there should be free and unimpeded [travel] in the Pacific Region or South China Sea specifically,” Lorenzana added.

Austin also reaffirmed the US' commitment to its alliance with the Philippines through the Mutual Defense Treaty and the VFA, the Department of National Defense said on Wednesday.

Asked if the Philippines will restore the VFA, Lorenzana said it is up to President Rodrigo Duterte, who terminated the VFA in June 2020 for six months after the cancelation of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa's US visa.

“The final decision to push through with the termination or withdraw the notice rests on the President,” he said. —KBK, GMA News