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| Adm. Harry Harris (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
WASHINGTON: Neither President Trump’s transition in DC nor President Duterte’s eruptions in Manila will derail America’s 70-year military commitment to the Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris said today. US-Philippine cooperation continues unabated despite Duterte’s denunciation of the alliance, the head of Pacific Command said. (The senior State Department official for the Pacific, Daniel Russel, recently dismissed Duterte’s statements as “a lot of noise” and noted nothing had actually changed despite the Philippine president’s public comments). Despite the turbulence of domestic politics, “America never has a lame duck commander in chief,” Harris said. “I’ll continue to serve President Obama until January 20th, at which point I’ll serve President Trump.
“I want to ease any concerns from our partners and our potential adversaries,” Harris said. “It would be inappropriate for me to speculate on potential policy initiatives of the next administration, (but) that said, I have no doubt we’ll continue our steadfast commitment to our allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.”
If foreign partners aren’t reassured, it’s not through any lack of trying on Harris’s part. He’s just sent the USS Sampson to help New Zealand after an earthquake and his personal travel is enough to kill a lesser man. “I was in Vietnam a few weeks ago; Mongolia; Japan; we cohosted the Chiefs of Defense conference in Manila,” Harris said. “I’ll be in Canada…then heading out back to Manila… I’ll go on to Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and Australia.
It’s no accident that the Philippines show up twice. Harris is heading back there Sunday for a major meeting Tuesday to determine US-Philippine joint exercises in 2017. Those exercisesmight be reduced, he said: “I’ll know more on Tuesday…but I’m optimistic about it.’
So far, “I’m not seeing any slowdown in the Philippines,” Harris said. “What I’ve seen is some statements that, I’ll be frank with you, are concerning to us, to me, coming from the new president there in the Philippines, but despite what he has said there’s been no change in anything with the Philippines, with one exception.” The meeting he’ll attend Tuesday was originally scheduled for last month.
Read the full story at Breaking Defense