By Pia Lee-Brago
HONOLULU – Despite the ups and downs, the bedrock of Philippine-US relations is solid with no signs of fundamental change in bilateral agreements or abandonment by Washington, former US ambassador Charles Salmon said.
Although the element of predictability is questionable with the advent of President Duterte and US President Donald Trump, he remains optimistic about the relationship of both nations.
“I don’t think that there’s going to be any fundamental change in the basic realization on the Philippines’ part and our part. The bilateral relationship remains important and we’ll continue to be important and that we’re going to continue to get to work together for stability in the Asia Pacific,” Salmon, an adjunct senior fellow at the East-West Center and former foreign policy advisor to the commander in chief of the US Pacific Command, told Filipino journalists in an experts’ briefing on Philippine-US relations.
In terms of economic relationship, he said the facts and figures of American foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Philippines are overwhelming and that the close relationship of Filipino and American citizens is very notable.
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