Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin III discussed on Sunday the fleet of Chinese ships still anchored at Julian Felipe Reef in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone since early March when they were first spotted there. The two officials made their phone call ahead of Monday’s resumption of the Balikatan joint exercises between the American and Philippine military, which was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But even before the pandemic, President Duterte, who had been critical of Washington’s stand against his drug war policy, had been ambivalent about the conduct of joint military exercises under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which provides the legal framework for US troops to operate on a rotational basis in the Philippines.

Andrade, J. I., Corrales, N., & Santos, T. G. (2021, April 12). Lorenzana, Austin discuss Felipe Reef situation in phone conversation. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A4.