The new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assurance of an “ironclad commitment” to its oldest military ally in Asia, the Philippines, was welcomed on Thursday by analysts, but they suggested this would all depend on US President Donald Trump, who appeared to have softened his stance on China.
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In one of his first acts as the country’s chief implementer of Trump’s foreign policy, Rubio phoned Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo on Wednesday to “underscore” Washington’s “ironclad commitments to the Philippines under our Mutual Defence Treaty [MDT]”, according to state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
Rubio and Manalo talked about “issues of mutual concern, including [China’s] dangerous and destabilising actions in the South China Sea”, Bruce disclosed, adding that Rubio had said Beijing’s behaviour “undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law”.
Bruce made no mention of the two discussing the trilateral security arrangement among the US, Japan and the Philippines, which was a last-minute initiative of former US president Joe Biden.
Earlier, Rubio also met his fellow foreign ministers of the Quad – Australia, India and Japan – and the officials in a joint statement said they “strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion in the Indo-Pacific region”.
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