Ely S. Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, speaks at a Pentagon press briefing in Washington in October 2023. (Cesar Navarro/U.S.Air Force)
The U.S. alliance with the Philippines has risen to among America’s “most vital defense partnerships in the world,” thanks to a heightened challenge from China in the South China Sea, a Pentagon official said Thursday.
Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said events involving the Philippines since 2021 have been “truly transformative and decisive,” driven largely by an assertive and often aggressive China.
“We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Manila in the midst of a changing security environment,” Ratner said in Washington, D.C., at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ South China Sea Conference. A copy of his remarks was posted on the Defense Department website.
Ratner underlined U.S. support for the Philippines as it faces coercion by China’s coast guard over possession of Second Thomas Shoal, a shallow reef inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
“I believe that historians will record this period in the alliance as truly transformative and decisive, as emblematic of broader strategic changes across the Indo-Pacific,” and the result of decisions by U.S. President Joe Biden, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
On the Second Thomas Shoal, Chinese coast guard vessels regularly harass Philippine vessels attempting to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded, rusting hulk serving as a military outpost. The Chinese have used water cannons and small boats to attack Philippine resupply efforts on the water there.
“We’ve continued to stand with our ally as Manila defends its lawful rights in the South China Sea,” Ratner said. “All the while, the United States has acted in support of the Philippines and made clear that our alliance commitments are ironclad … and that all nations should be able to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”
The Chinese claim on the shoal “has no more credibility today than it did when the Arbitral Tribunal issued its unanimous ruling in 2016,” he said. “And the kind of revisionism and coercion we’ve seen there from [China] is both destabilizing and dangerous.”
The tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines and found that “major elements” of China’s claims in the South China Sea were invalid. China responded that the ruling was “null and void,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Ratner ticked off a list of activity and achievements in the Philippines under the Biden Administration, including “historic mosts, firsts and first-evers.”
The two allies held their first combined naval exercise in the South China Sea in years, he said. Last year, during the Balikatan exercise in the Philippines, the U.S. for the first time employed its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, capable of firing anti-ship missiles. Fifth-generation U.S. fighters visited the Philippines, also for the first time, Ratner said. U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighters landed at Clark Air Base in March.
“And we’re poised to deliver so much more together in the future,” Ratner said. That includes a request to Congress for another $120 million to spend on nine military sites the U.S. has access to under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, “which in just one year is more than double what we’ve invested in EDCA infrastructure to date,” he said.
The two allies are also negotiating a General Security of Military Information Agreement “that will strengthen and expand our information sharing,” he said.
