US envoy cites importance of naval ship visits in SEA

United States (US) Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim on Thursday emphasized the importance of American ship visitations in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, following concerns about continuous militarization in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).

“Not only does our presence. Visits of ships are really fantastic, ships (and) carriers demonstrate our commitment to the US-Philippines alliance, the region, and also to do whatever we can to protect international flights, freedom of navigation and overflight,” Kim said during the “Kapihan sa Embahada” at the US Embassy in Manila.

Kim was referring to the recent port visits of powerful US warship to the Philippines, namely aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Theodore Roosevelt, and the USS amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard.

“(It’s) very important for us to be present and the recent ship visits that I mentioned are directly relevant to the situation we have in the South China Sea… So we’ll continue whatever we can to protect those rights,” the US envoy said.

Political rhetoric Kim also said it is more important to listen to what is happening on the policies and substance concerning the relationship between Manila and Washington, D.C. rather than the occasional political rhetoric from President Duterte.

Kim was reacting to questions about Duterte’s most recent statement saying that some countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are complaining about the meddling of western countries in the internal affairs of regional neighbors like Indonesia, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

“We work together on so many fronts and making concrete progress in so many important areas, and I’m also quite optimistic what’s happening right now. I think it’s important to pay more attention to what’s happening on the ground, what actions and policies and substance rather than occasional political rhetoric,” he said.