US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reiterated on Friday the United States’ pledge to support the Philippines in security and defense during a Pentagon meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Austin told Marcos Jr. that /”An armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, including the South China Sea, would invoke US defense commitments under our Mutual Defense Treaty./”

The meeting between Austin and Marcos came just after Austin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.

In that meeting, Manalo told the US officials that the Philippines is /”determined to assert our sovereign rights, especially within our exclusive economic zone./” Recent maritime run-ins between China and the Philippines, a US treaty ally, have made the highly strategic South China Sea a potential flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.

(Production: Kristin Neubauer)

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