* Philippines, U.S. to work on long-term agreement
* VFA underpins all U.S.-Philippines defence pacts
* Defence Minister to talk to allies about China law
(Adds Philippines defence minister's comments)
MANILA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The Philippines and the United
States will meet this month to iron out differences over a
Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Manila's top diplomat said,
amid renewed regional concerns over China's assertive maritime
agenda.
The Philippines in November suspended for a second time
President Rodrigo Duterte's unilateral decision to terminate the
VFA, to allow it to work with Washington on a long-term pact.
"I am narrowing down the issues and soon we will meet...and
iron out whatever differences we have," Foreign Affairs
Secretary Teodoro Locsin told ANC news channel on Monday, adding
a meeting was likely in the last week of February.
He declined to elaborate on the terms of a potential
agreement.
Duterte notified Washington in February last year that he
was cancelling the deal, outraged that a senator and ally who
led his notorious war on drugs was denied a U.S. visa.
The VFA provides the legal framework under which U.S. troops
can operate on a rotational basis in the Philippines. Experts
say without it, other bilateral defence agreements, including
the Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT), cannot be implemented.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month stressed
the importance of the MDT should Manila come under attack in the
South China Sea. Blinken's comments came as the Philippines protested China's
new law allowing its coastguard to open fire on foreign vessels
in what it sees as its territory, describing it as a "threat of
war".
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, which is a
major trade route.
Locsin said he would continue to press for a maritime code
of conduct that "will never exclude" the United States, to
ensure the regional balance of power.
Separately, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the
Philippines would talk to allies about China's law and concern
that a miscalculation could lead to open conflict.
He also told CNN Philippines that the United States had not
consulted the Philippines or other claimants before its patrols.