Over the past year, the U.S. has strongly reiterated that it would fulfill its obligation to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if China was to attack the Philippine military. However, the European position is more opaque.

Since 2022, the Philippines has signed new defense agreements with the EU and the UK, while France is hoping to ink a visiting forces agreement to allow its troops access to Philippine military bases.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have deployed naval warships to the South China Sea for freedom of navigation exercises (FONOPs) in recent years, while Italy is reportedly planning to send its flagship aircraft carrier “Cavour” to the region later this year.

In mid-March, EU special envoy to the Indo-Pacific region Richard Tibbels said that European states want to conduct port calls and joint naval exercises with the Philippines as part of a plan to have a more coordinated maritime presence “further east in the Indo-Pacific region.”