US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III reassured President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, May 3, of the United States’ “ironclad” commitment to its mutual defense obligations amid tensions in the South China Sea.

Austin’s remarks came after the Philippines and the US set up bilateral defense guidelines to modernize and strengthen the alliance.

The guidelines’ objectives are the following:

• Reaffirm the 1951 United States-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty’s (MDT’s) continued relevance in addressing current and emerging threats;
• Foster a common understanding of roles, missions, and capabilities within the framework of the alliance to face emerging regional and global security challenges;
• Drive unity of effort across shared dialogue mechanisms and working groups and ensure all areas of bilateral security and defense cooperation are coordinated to address primary security concerns; and
• Guide priority areas of defense cooperation to address both conventional and non-conventional security challenges of shared concern to the United States and the Philippines.

“As President (Joe) Biden has made clear, our commitment to the defense of the Philippines is ironclad,” Austin told Marcos in a meeting at the Pentagon in Virginia.

“And let me say once again that our mutual defense treaty applies to armed attacks on our armed forces, Coast Guard vessels, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including anywhere in the South China Sea. So make no mistake, Mr. President, we will always have your back, in the South China Sea or elsewhere in the region.” 

Marcos acknowledged that “the call of the times, unfortunately, is asking for us to meet these new challenges that perhaps we have not faced before.” 

“And that’s why it is very important that these continuing exchanges that we have started, first with the visits of the Vice President, Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, yourself, and the 2+2 meetings that we have conducted last month,” the President said.

The Philippines and the US earlier agreed on the locations of additional military camps where American soldiers will be given access under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

The four new EDCA sites are located at Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta. Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; and Balabac Island in Palawan.

This brings the number of EDCA sites in the country to nine.

Last week, they concluded the largest iteration ever of Balikatan exercises, which included more than 17,000 troops from the Philippines, the US, and Australia training side-by-side across air, land, sea, and, for the first time, cyberspace.

These developments take place while tensions in the South China Sea, a vital maritime route that Beijing claims almost entirely, are growing.

China has been more assertive in pushing its claims to the sea despite an arbitral ruling that favored the Philippines’ case that Beijing’s claims of sovereignty had no legal basis.

Recently, a Chinese coast guard ship cut off a Philippine patrol ship carrying journalists off the Spratly Islands, almost colliding with it.