British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday to discuss maritime security, trade and the environment, the two governments said.
Cleverly also visited the Philippine Coast Guard, which, along with the military, has accused China of breaking international law in an escalating series of incidents in the disputed South China Sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, and has ignored an international ruling that its claims have no legal basis.
Chinese coast guard vessels chased and briefly blocked Philippine boats on a resupply mission to a remote garrison on Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the Spratly Islands last week, the second incident of its kind this month.
Cleverly said Britain wanted to build “enduring partnerships with the Philippines and like-minded countries across this region.”
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said Cleverly’s visit “signals a strengthening of our bilateral ties in trade, investment, security, maritime cooperation, and other fields”.
Total two-way annual trade between Britain and the Philippines stood at an all-time high of 2.4 billion pounds ($3.03 billion), Cleverly said.
“Trade between the UK and the Philippines is now the highest it’s ever been—around 2.4 billion pounds in goods and services. We have strong people-to-people links, and we are grateful to have over 47,000 Filipino healthcare workers,” Cleverly said in his opening remark.
The UK-Philippines Enhanced Partnership was launched in 2021 to forge closer ties in trade and investment, technology, and security and defense.
“Our UK-Philippines Enhanced Partnership benefits our people, including on climate, trade, science and tech, and shared security,” Cleverly said as he noted that the ties between the two countries are “founded on our shared values, and shared belief in openness, freedom and the rule of law.”
Manalo welcomed UK’s support as he said it “is an important long-standing partner of the Philippines, especially in this time of geographic upheavals, economic disruptions, and challenges to the rule of law.”
“Foreign Secretary Cleverly’s visit to Manila, the first British foreign secretary to do so since 2016, heartens us,” he said.
“Seventy-seven years after we established diplomatic ties, the bilateral relationship between the Philippines and the UK remains strong and robust,” Manalo added.
The two countries agreed to develop a framework that would define the scope of their bilateral
ties, with Cleverly and Manalo underscoring the need for closer cooperation over “pressing and evolving regional and international issues of mutual concern.”
The two foreign secretaries did not mention China and the tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
“The UK is building enduring partnerships and the Philippines is one of those key partners,” Cleverly said.
The UK is looking forward to “sharing knowledge on maritime law, promoting maritime domain awareness, and enhancing maritime protections” along with the Philippines, he said.
“I visited the Coast Guard to hear about the work they do to uphold the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and protect the maritime environment,” Cleverly said.
“I’ve had a valuable set of discussions about what we can do together,” he said, without revealing further details.
Mr. Marcos travels to Jakarta next week to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
