The conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation is urging US President Barack Obama to accept President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s invitation to visit the Philippines.
“The time is finally ripe for such a trip,” said Robert Warshaw, a research assistant at the Washington DC-based foundation’s Asian Studies Center. “The two leaders have a lot to talk about. President Obama should accept President Aquino’s invitation for several reasons.”
Warshaw thinks such a visit by Mr. Obama would serve the interests of both the United States and the Philippines, America’s long-term treaty ally in the Southeast Asian region.
“This year marks the \t “_blank” 60th anniversary of the US-Philippines alliance, and for the alliance to survive another 60 years, the US must not falter in its commitment to the Philippines,” Warshaw said. It would be a “tremendous display of friendship…and demonstrate America’s commitment in this area”, he added.
Mr. Aquino extended his invitation to the American president in the course of his just concluded four-day US official visit that brought him to New York and Washington D.C.
“As America’s longest standing treaty ally in the Pacific, the Philippines deserves the respect that a US presidential visit conveys,” Warshaw stressed.
According to Warshaw, such a visit could serve as “catalyst for an even greater level of cooperation” and enhance bilateral ties, especially in the areas of ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, combating terrorism and drug trafficking.
Warshaw also said that the Philippines could prove a crucial market in view of Mr. Obama’s goal of doubling US exports.
He recalled the American president’s observation that US exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that includes the Philippines are growing twice as fast as they are to other regions.
Moreover, a visit at this time would provide the opportunity to discuss ways of boosting bilateral trade and investments noting.
“Aquino is sending a clear and powerful message that the Philippines wants the US to play a greater role in Southeast Asia,” Warshaw stressed.
“Such support from within ASEAN is exactly what the US needs to ensure that America’s strategic, moral, and economic interests in Southeast Asia—interests it shares with the Philippines and several other ASEAN countries—are secured,” he added.
