MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday met with United States Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo amid escalating maritime confrontations between Beijing and Manila in the disputed South China Sea.
Paparo, who is in Manila to attend an international military conference organized by the US Indo-Pacific Command, paid a courtesy call on Marcos in Malacañang.
During the meeting, Marcos said he has a lot of things to discuss with the US military official about the two countries’ relations.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. meets with the United Sates INDO-PACIFIC COMMMAND (INDOPACOM) Commander Admiral Samuel J. Paparo Jr. during a courtesy call at the Malacanang Palace on tuesday. PPA POOL / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
He also said the planned visits of Paparo to several Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites will expose the US delegation to the real situation.
“I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you —, us going to see you and you going to see us. We have a great deal of —, we have many subjects to discuss for the United States and for the Philippines,” Marcos said.
“I’m glad that you are able to find time to tour with us in the Philippines. I understand that you were going to visit some sites and one of the EDCA sites so you will see the true situation on the ground,” he added.
Signed in 2014, EDCA grants US troops access to designated Philippine military facilities, allowing them to build facilities and preposition equipment, aircraft, and vessels.
Paparo assumed the top post in the US Indo-Pacific Command from Admiral John Aquilino during turnover ceremonies on May 3, 2024.
The two officials met for a dialogue on issues that would lead to continuity of a crucial defense and security partnership between the US and the Philippines.
The meeting in Malacañang was attended by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, and Armed Forces chief General Romeo Brawner.
The US Indo-Pacific Command was established as a unified command on Jan. 1, 1947. It is one of six geographic Unified Combatant Commands of the US Armed Forces and the oldest and largest of the American unified commands.
In May of this year, Paparo vowed that the US military stood ready to defend the region against threats to its peace and stability amid China’s aggression in the South China Sea.
Paparo said the command would work with allies and partners to preserve the free and open Indo-Pacific.
“We must be ready to answer PRC’s (People Republic of China’s) increasingly intrusive and expansionist claims in the Indo-Pacific Region,” Paparo had said in his remarks following the US Indo-Pacific Command Change of Command at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.
Amid the dispute between the two countries, Marcos became the first Philippine president in November last year to visit the US Indo-Pacific Command.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have continued to escalate as both sides traded accusations over a series of incidents in the disputed waters.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.
A portion of the South China Sea within the Philippine exclusive economic zone has been renamed the West Philippine Sea.
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