Hegseth to fly to the Philippines and Japan in first visit to Asian treaty allies at odds with China

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to visit the Philippines, the first stop in his first trip to Asia next week, for talks that will include increasing deterrence against aggression in the disputed South China Sea, a Philippine official said Friday.

Hegseth will be in Manila on March 28-29 to meet his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Talks will touch on increasingly assertive actions by Beijing in the South China Sea and “more significant support” to Philippine security forces by the Trump administration, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez told The Associated Press.

In the U.S., chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell later said Hegseth will visit Hawaii to meet civilian and military leaders in the Indo-Pacific Command then tour U.S. military facilities in Guam and receive briefings on capabilities before flying to the Philippines and Japan.

Hegseth would “advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with U.S. and Philippine forces. In Japan, he would participate in a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima and meet with Japanese leaders and U.S. military forces, Parnell said and added without elaborating that ”as always, the secretary looks forward to some great PT (physical training) with the troops!"

“These engagements will drive ongoing efforts to strengthen our alliances and partnerships toward our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said. The trip “comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security.”

Trump’s “America First” foreign policy thrust has triggered concerns about the scale and depth of U.S. commitment to the region under his new term.

"It’s a strong message to China on solid bilateral relations” between the U.S. and the Philippines,” Romualdez said of Hegseth's upcoming visit.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a major security and global trade route. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay overlapping claims to the resource-rich and busy waters, but confrontations have particularly spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces in the last two years.

In his first telephone talk with Teodoro last month, Hegseth “reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and its importance for maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” according to a readout provided by Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot after the Feb. 5 call.

“The leaders discussed the importance of reestablishing deterrence in the South China Sea, including by working with allies and partners,” Ullyot said. “They also discussed enhancing the capability and capacity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

After major territorial faceoffs between Chinese and Philippine forces in the disputed waters, the previous Biden administration had repeatedly warned that the U.S. is obligated to help defend the Philippines under the treaty if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea.

Beijing has warned Washington, in return, to stay out of what it calls a purely Asian dispute and stop actions that endanger regional harmony and stability.

Hegseth's visit to the Philippines comes a month before the longtime treaty allies hold the “Balikatan,” Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder, their largest annual combat exercises that include live-fire drills, that in recent years have been held near the South China Sea and the sea border between the Philippines and Taiwan.

Taiwan i s the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory and which it has been threatening to annex by force.

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AP journalist Lolita Baldor contributed to this story.