Philippines’ Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana gestures as he delivers a speech during the closing ceremony of the annual joint US-Philippines (TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
China could gain a major victory in the region if the 67-year-old U.S.-Philippines mutual defense treaty changes.
The government of the Philippines is considering revising the country’s Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. The review will aim to decide whether “to maintain it, strengthen it, or scrap it,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on December 28.
Signed in 1951, the treaty between the Philippines and the U.S. requires each nation to support the other if one of them is attacked. Under this treaty, the Philippines has been protected by the world’s superpower for a lifetime.
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