MANILA: The Philippines is confident in the continuity of US policies in the Asia-Pacific region after the US presidential election, its defence chief said, underlining that Philippine-US ties would remain strong regardless of the outcome.
Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the alliance between the two countries is anchored in shared security goals and a commitment to uphold international law, including in the contested waters of the South China Sea.
“Our support for initiatives, bilaterally and multilaterally … is bipartisan, aside from the fact that we are operating together on institutional grounds, on foundational grounds,” Teodoro said in an interview.
Teodoro said China’s “misbehaviour” in the South China Sea has placed the Philippines at the forefront of regional security concerns, sparking a global response.
“Simply put, China has given the Philippines some prominence that in normal terms, if everybody followed the rules of the road, if they didn’t do bad things, then this prominence of the Philippines would not be there,” Teodoro said. “So, it’s all China’s fault right now because there is a felt need to band together because of their misbehaviour that this is happening.”
China’s defence and foreign ministries and the US Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Teodoro’s remarks.
The US presidential election will take place on Nov 5, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump locked in a close race.
Tensions are high in the South China Sea, where China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the waterway, challenging Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, and recently Vietnam and Indonesia.
