US Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the United States’ unwavering support for the Philippines, especially amid China’s continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

“Indeed, and I will tell you from my first visit to Manila and our first conversation, it is extremely important to me and to the United States that we reaffirm the commitment to the defense of the Philippines including the South China Sea,” Harris told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a phone call on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

The call followed a trilateral discussion earlier in the week iinvolving US President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.

Harris reflected on her historic 2022 visit to the Philippines, particularly to Palawan, which highlighted  “the vulnerability in the region.”

She emphasized that the visit strengthened Biden’s resolve to support the Philippines in security and prosperity efforts.

“I know there is bipartisan support within the United States Congress and within the US for the strength of this relationship and the enduring nature of it in terms of security, but again prosperity and to your point of people-to-people ties,” the Vice President said.

For his part, Marcos Jr. expressed gratitude for the partnership, praising the progress in US-PH relations.

“Madame Vice President, before I came to this call I was going through all of the things that we had discussed in the past couple of years. And it is remarkable how much work we have been able to do and how much it has progressed and developed the relationship between our two countries. Already very strong relationship but evolving and evolving for the modern challenges that we face, both for us and the South China Sea and for the United States around the world,” he said.

“As I told President Biden when I spoke to him, I said that, I remember … just before we signed the trilateral agreement in Washington, that, I said to President Biden that this will change the dynamic of the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific. And it certainly has done that,” he added.

The President also emphasized the importance of shared values and international law in advancing mutual goals and invigted Harris to visit the Philippines again.

The call follows a series of high-level engagements between the two leaders, including meetings during Harris’ Manila visit, the 2023 APEC conference, and various summits.IMT