Blinken, Austin due in Manila for 2+2 with Manalo, Gibo

Top Philippine and US diplomats and defense officials are meeting in Manila on July 30 for the first time as the two allies seek to further boost their alliance, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday amid China's growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.

Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo and Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro, Jr., will host US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on July 30 for the 4th Philippines-US Foreign and Defense Ministerial Dialogue. 

The 2+2 meeting will highlight the two countries' defense and security and economic cooperation. All three meetings were previously held in Washington since the joint ministerial dialogue format was introduced in 2012.

Both sides are expected to discuss the conclusion before yearend of a key information-sharing pact, called the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), government sources told GMA News Online. 

This will enable real-time information-sharing and technology cooperation across domains, the sources said.

"During this year’s 2+2 Dialogue, the four Secretaries are expected to discuss how to further enhance our two countries’ commitment to the PH - U.S. alliance while enabling a common program in support of the rules-based international order, enhanced economic ties, broad-based prosperity, and solutions to evolving regional and global security challenges," the DFA said in a statement.

Blinken and Austin's visit to Manila underscores Washington’s high-profile support to its longtime treaty ally at a time of heightened conflicts between China and the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea, or South China Sea, particularly in the Ayungin Shoal, also known by its international name Second Thomas Shoal, and in Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal.

Washington has repeatedly declared its “ironclad commitment” to help defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack against its forces following repeated and increasingly violent Chinese harassment of Filipino coast guards and troops in the disputed South China Sea, particularly in Ayungin Shoal.

This will be Blinken's second trip to Manila this year, while Austin's last visit was in 2023.

The two US officials are also scheduled to pay a courtesy call to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. in Malacanang.

In his visit last April, Blinken and Philippine counterpart Manalo described their countries’ relations as being on “hyper-drive" and vowed to expand cooperation in several areas, including technology and climate change.

The four officials in Washington last year reaffirmed "full support for international law, modernizing shared defense capabilities of the alliance, advancing economic and environmental security, and cultivating the vibrant and robust people-to-people ties between the two countries."

Efforts to bolster their defense alliance, they said, were not directed at any country. 

Washington said it is within its national interest to maintain unfettered access to the South China Sea’s strategic sea lanes and airspace.

China, which considers the sea disputes a purely Asian issue, is opposed to any foreign intervention, particularly the US.

The Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei have been embroiled in years-long territorial disputes over resource-rich features in the South China Sea - feared as Asia’s next potential flashpoint for a major armed conflict.

China claims the waters nearly in its entirety despite an international tribunal ruling on a case filed by the Philippines that invalidated such an assertion. —NB, GMA Integrated News