Pompeo visit, chance for US to understand PH foreign policy

Pompeo is expected to arrive in the Philippines on February 28 to meet with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and pay a courtesy call on President Rodrigo R. Duterte. (File photo: Mike Pompeo/Twitter)

MANILA — The first visit of State Secretary Michael Pompeo to Manila poses a good opportunity for the United States to better understand the country’s independent foreign policy, a political analyst said Thursday.

“It’s more of understanding each other well, a better understanding of what the Philippine independent foreign policy means for the US,” Ramon Casiple told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on the sidelines of a forum on Philippine-US relations in Quezon City.

“There are still so many questions that could be clarified here (in the upcoming meeting).

I think that’s the outcome that we could see after unless the US has other things in its mind,” he added.

Pompeo is expected to arrive in the Philippines on February 28 to meet with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and pay a courtesy call on President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo earlier said the two secretaries would discuss issues of mutual interest with the possibility of tackling the proposed review of the 67-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between Manila and Washington.

With the expanding immigration concerns in the US, Casiple said Manila should also take advantage of the visit to clarify how Filipinos in America are affected by these issues.

Moreover, the country should also seek for a categorical answer on where the US stands in the South China Sea issue, as well as on the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, he said.

“(On our part) we are really not in the position to offer something big,” he noted as he stressed that the administration’s position since 2016 has been clear, as stated in the framework of its independent foreign policy.

“Kumbaga nangyari na like our closer ties with China, ano pang sasabihin ng (US) doon? Unless sabihin ng presidente na iatras lahat ‘yan at bumalik sa US, huli, meaning ‘yong special relations, which I don’t think will happen (That is to say we have already implemented our independent foreign policy like our closer ties with China, what can the US say against that? Unless the president pulls out and say we return to US, in terms of special relations, I don’t think that will happen),” he said.