SENIOR officials from the Philippines and United States have agreed to set up dialogues on cyber-digital space and democracy, while deepening collaboration on countering fake foreign narratives, according to a joint statement posted on the US Department of State website.
Officials from both sides, who met in Washington, D.C. on April 22 and 23, said they have agreed to boost their cooperation against “foreign information manipulation.”
The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which tackles propaganda and disinformation, defines the practice as efforts by a foreign government to promote “biased information.”
It linked the term to China in a 2023 report, accusing it of suppressing “critical information that contradicts its desired narratives” on issues including the dispute in the South China Sea.
The parties also opposed any threat or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, alluding to China’s growing assertiveness in the waterway.
They also “reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” while committing to advance a free, safe and open Indo-Pacific region that is “inclusive, prosperous, secure and based on international law.”
The parties likewise agreed to continue talks on finalizing additional sites in the Philippines and enforcing their Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), with the US Defense department committing to invest $128 mil-lion in infrastructure.
They will also continue discussions on prepositioning United States Agency for International Development (USAID) disaster relief commodities for Philippine civilian disaster response authorities at key EDCA sites.
The Philippines and US are also expected to conclude a “general security of military information agreement” by yearend, according to the statement.
Philippine and US officials agreed to meet in Manila around September or October for a maritime dialogue.
Security analysts on Wednesday criticized the paltry share of the Philippines in the United States’ $95-billion (P5.5 trillion) aid package — mostly military assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and US partners in the In-do-Pacific region — saying Manila should demand more as it deals with China, the world’s biggest naval power.
The Philippines will get $500 million in aid under a US Senate-approved bill, compared with $61 billion for Ukraine’s efforts against Russia’s invasion and $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones around the world.
The Philippine share is part of the $8.12 billion allotted to “counter communist China” in the Indo-Pacific region.
With a 79–18 vote in the US Senate, the proposed package that President Joseph R. Biden is expected to sign this week is seen as a bipartisan victory, getting support from most Democrats and traditional Republi-cans wary of ultra-nationalist sentiments among their ranks.
The House passed its version of the proposed package on Saturday in the form of individual bills combined for Senate action.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in February said the Philippines was on the frontline of a battle for regional peace as it faces China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
China claims the waterway almost in its entirety, including waters that fall within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
It continues to block resupply missions at Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila grounded a World War II-era ship in 1999 to assert its sovereignty, by firing water cannons at much smaller Philippine boats.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has expanded US access to four more military sites in the Philippines on top of the five existing ones.
He told foreign journalists in Manila this month that he does not plan to expand US access to military bases in the Philippines.
Mr. Marcos met with US President Joseph R. Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the nations’ first trilateral summit in Washington this month. — J.V.D. Ordoñez
