US aims to shore up Philippine ties as doubts linger over troop pact future

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin met President Rodrigo Duterte, who said last year he was cancelling the Visiting Forces Agreement between the two countries

The pact has assumed additional importance as the US and its allies contend with China’s assertiveness in the region

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (centre) greets US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin at Malacanang Palace in Manila on Thursday. Photo: Philippines’ Presidential Photographers Division via AFP

Published: 7:05am, 30 Jul 2021Updated: 7:05am, 30 Jul 2021

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is working to shore up American relations with the Philippines that have stagnated in part over the precarious state of an agreement governing the presence of US troops in the country as he wraps up a two-day visit on Friday.

The Pentagon chief on Thursday met President Rodrigo Duterte, who told the United States last year he was cancelling the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that the two countries signed in 1998. Austin is set to meet Philippines defence chief Delfin Lorenzana on Friday to discuss the future of the pact.

The VFA provides rules for the rotation of thousands of US troops in and out of the Philippines for war drills and exercises. It has assumed additional importance as the United States and its allies contend with China’s assertiveness in the region.

Ties between the United States and its former colony have been complicated by Duterte’s rise to power in 2016 and his frequent condemnation of American foreign policy and embrace of China, a country that nevertheless has continued to pressure Philippine maritime boundaries.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (right) meets US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin at Malacanang Palace in Manila on Thursday. Photo: Philippines’ Presidential Photographers Division via AFP

The Philippines is a US treaty ally, and several military agreements are dependent on the VFA. Duterte vowed to terminate the pact after the United States denied a visa to a Philippine senator who is an ally of the president, but has repeatedly suspended the expiration date, the latest time last month. The current expiration date set by Duterte is the end of the year.