Talks between Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and the Philippine defense and foreign secretaries centered on "deepening our alliance and supporting a free and open South China Sea and Indo-Pacific region."
The Philippine president has suspended his decision to terminate a key defense pact with the United States, at least temporarily avoiding a major blow to one of America’s oldest alliances in Asia.
The move by the Philippines to end a security pact that allowed U.S. forces to train in the country potentially “challenged” future American operations with Filipino forces, a U.S. admiral said on Thursday.
The Philippines notified the United States on Tuesday it would end a major security pact allowing American forces to train in the country, in the most serious threat under President Rodrigo Duterte to their 69-year treaty alliance.
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