‘Ironclad’ is how its leaders describe the commitment of the United States to come to the defense of the Philippines if we are attacked by a third party under the terms of Mutual Defense Treaty we signed back in 1951.
The situation then may have been different in the post-Second War era with the US engaged in a Cold War with its arch-rival, the Soviet Union.
With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, China has now emerged as a rival superpower fast catching up with the US in building a robust economy and a powerful military.
With tensions in the South China Sea not likely to go away with Beijing claiming practically the whole of the vital sea lane on the basis of a mythical ‘nine-dash line,’ our military alliance with the US serves as a deterrent to aggression that would threaten peace and stability in the region.
But ironclad does not mean the agreement is rigid and inflexible.
In fact, last week (May 3), the two treaty partners issued what’s called the Bilateral Defense Guidelines to update and modernize alliance cooperation to pursue their shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
The guidelines reaffirm an armed attack in the Pacific, including anywhere in the South China Sea, on either of their public vessels, aircraft, or armed forces, including their Coast Guards, would invoke mutual defense commitments under Articles IV and V of the MDT.
The treaty partners also recognized the fact that threats may arise in several domains, including land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace, and take the form of asymmetric, hybrid, and irregular warfare and gray-zone tactics.
After all, it has been 72 years since the MDT was signed, and modern warfare has assumed various modalities since 1951.
The newly crafted guidelines chart a way forward to build interoperability in both conventional and non-conventional domains.
The guidelines also seek to strengthen the United States and the Philippines’ combined deterrence in an evolving security environment.
Not only do the guidelines reaffirm the continuing relevance of the treaty in addressing both current and emerging threats, they also foster a common understanding of roles, missions, and capabilities within the framework of the alliance to face regional and global security challenges.
The Philippines will benefit from the updated guidelines on mutual defense cooperation as it would allow us to accelerate modernization of our armed forces and attain a credible defense posture amid heightened security challenges in this part of the world.