Kamala Harris: US must stand with PH amid China's provocations in WPS

Outgoing United States Vice President Kamala Harris has emphasized the importance of reaffirming the US commitment to come into the defense of the Philippines amid China's continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea. 

Harris said this during a telephone call with President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Tuesday evening. 

"Indeed, and I will tell you from my first visit to Manila and our first conversation, it is extremely important to me and to the United States that we reaffirm the commitment to the defense of the Philippines including the South China Sea," Harris said in a press release issued by the Presidential Communications Office. 

In a separate readout, the White House said Harris has affirmed the importance of continued defense of international rules and norms in the South China Sea in the face of provocations from Beijing.

She noted that the US should stand with the Philippines in the face of such provocations and the enduring nature of its defense commitments to the Philippines, the White House said.

Harris also recalled her historic visit to the Philippines, particularly her trip to Palawan in November 2022. She said this trip had underscored ''the vulnerability in the region."

According to the Vice President, her visit strengthened US President Joe Biden's resolve to support the Philippines when it comes to security and prosperity.

"I know there is bipartisan support within the United States Congress and within the US for the strength of this relationship and the enduring nature of it in terms of security, but again prosperity and to your point of people-to-people ties," Harris said. 

Marcos, for his part, expressed gratitude to Harris as he also highlighted the robust and productive partnership between the Philippines and the US.

"Madame Vice President, before I came to this call I was going through all of the things that we had discussed in the past couple of years. And it is remarkable how much work we have been able to do and how much it has progressed and developed the relationship between our two countries. Already very strong relationship but evolving and evolving for the modern challenges that we face, both for us and the South China Sea and for the United States around the world," Marcos said.

"As I told President Biden when I spoke to him, I said that, I remember ... just before we signed the trilateral agreement in Washington, that, I said to President Biden that this will change the dynamic of the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific. And it certainly has done that," he added.

They also discussed trilateral cooperation with Japan as a key pillar of regional security, which the Vice President helped accelerate with the first leader-level trilateral meeting in Jakarta in September 2023.

Before the phone call concluded, Marcos invited Harris to visit the Philippines again. 

To recall, Marcos had a meeting with Harris before the beginning of the APEC Summit in San Francisco in November 2023. The meeting was centered on the Philippine assessment as regards the situation in the West Philippine Sea. 

  —VAL, GMA Integrated News