Attack in SCS to trigger PH-US defense pact obligation: Pompeo

FILE: POMPEO IN PH. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. shakes hands with visiting US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo who is in the country to discuss, among others, the PH-US mutual defense cooperation and counterterrrorism efforts. (PNA photo by Oliver F. Marquez)

MANILA — US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Friday said an armed attack against Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea (SCS) would “trigger” the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States.

“As the South China Sea is part of the Pacific, any armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea would trigger mutual defense obligations under Article IV of our Mutual Defense Treaty,” he said during a speech after his bilateral meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Article IV of the MDT states that: “Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall be immediately reported to the Security Council of the United Nations, such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”

Pompeo said the US commitments, as well as its obligations to the MDT, are clear.

“South China Sea is certainly part of an important body of water for freedom of navigation,” he said.

“We remain committed to supporting not only the Philippines in that effort, and the Philippines willing to do its part as well, but all the countries in the region so that these incredibly vital economic sea lanes are open and China does not pose a threat to closing them down,” he added.

Manila and Beijing are locked in years-long territorial dispute in the SCS. In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines, saying China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the SCS.

Last December, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered the treaty’s review to assess whether there is a need to maintain, strengthen, or abrogate the only defense pact of the Philippines with a foreign nation.

The MDT, signed in 1951, contains eight articles requiring the two Pacific allies to provide aid in case of an armed attack against either Washington or Manila by an external party.

In the past, Washington’s commitment to the agreement had been put into question when tensions escalated between Manila and Beijing over its territorial row in the South China Sea.

Previously, Lorenzana said the agreement, signed more than 10 years before Filipino troops occupied claimed areas in the West Philippines Sea, does not cover the disputed territories, adding the US government has also been “ambivalent” in the maritime row.

Locsin, however, said he sees no need to review the treaty, noting that “in vagueness lies the best deterrence.”

“How do you flesh out that vagueness? In repeated assurances that the United States in the event an act of aggression is committed against the Philippines, I don’t believe that going down into the details is the way the sincerity of the American commitment will be shown,” Locsin said.