The Philippines has decided to discontinue the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) it signed with the United States since the 1990s. The withdrawal would take effect this August. A senior editor then suggested that China would take advantage of the deterioration of the US-Philippine alliance and focus on its regional ambitions in the country.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has recently decided to withdraw the country's participation from the Visiting Forces Agreement signed with the US. The said decision was perceived to undermine the ability of the US to counter China's plans in the country.
According to a Southeast Asian security analyst and senior editor at The Diplomat Prashanth Parameswaran, the decision was one of the results of President Duterte's opposition to the US government's interests with the country.
He claimed that the president has long wanted to separate from the US and that the decision could improve the country's relations with China. According to Business Insider, Duterte has been seeking to promote Chinese investments in the country.
According to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China Chad Sbragia, China is competing against the US in the Philippines. At a US-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing last Thursday, he said that China might have been putting pressure on its allies to sever ties with the US.
He also added that the recent withdrawal of the Philippines from the VFA might trigger China to take advantage of the deteriorating US-Philippine alliance since this would indicate that the US can no longer contain its regional ambitions in the country.
The said withdrawal from the VFA was said to have been supported by some Philippine officials. It was revealed that the country has been set at addressing matters relating to its sovereignty, but some politicians allegedly questioned the President's authority to withdraw the Philippines' position in the agreement.
The director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Gregory Poling claimed that the US should take Duterte's stand seriously. He said that the President has been set at cutting ties from the US and that this would be a step to align its strategies properly with China.
The report also raised that in recent years, China has been expanding and reinforcing its presence in the South China Sea by building military structures on man-made islands. The territory was said to be countered by the Philippines and both countries are under a dispute on sovereignty as of today.
Parameswaran added that Beijing might take measures to ensure that the US's loss in the Philippines could result in China's gain. He added that the benefits of China from the withdrawal could go beyond security such as strengthening its economic ties with the country or helping the Duterte administration in achieving its political goals.
