By Solomon "Customs" Bridges
Three-quarters of a century after the United States and the Philippines signed their Mutual Defense Treaty, the two allies gathered Aug. 7 at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to mark the anniversary and reaffirm the pact's terms. Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, co-chaired the annual Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board with Gen. Antonio G. Nafarrete, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The dispatch describing the meeting, issued by U.S. Pacific Command, is brief and does not detail specific commitments made at this year's session, nor does it name other officials present. Readers should note that anniversary observances of this kind are often as much about signaling continuity as announcing new policy, and this desk cannot confirm from the available material whether new agreements emerged from the board's deliberations.
The treaty itself dates to 1951, drafted in the early Cold War as Washington built a network of Pacific alliances. It obligates each country to respond to an armed attack on the other in the Pacific area, a clause that has taken on fresh weight as the Philippines faces repeated confrontations with Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels near Scarborough Shoal and other contested reefs in the South China Sea. Manila has leaned more heavily on the U.S. alliance in recent years, granting American forces expanded access to Philippine military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
For Americans far from any coastline, the treaty's relevance lies in what it guards: shipping lanes carrying roughly a third of global trade pass through the South China Sea. A confrontation there would not stay there — it would show up in shipping costs and insurance premiums long before it showed up on the evening news.
Nothing happens 'over there' anymore.
— Compiled from reporting by U.S. Central Command (DVIDS).
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."