US will stay out of Sabah issue

The United States will stay out of the Sabah dispute despite claims that Washington is bound to protect the Sulu Sultanate under a century-old treaty. “We’re not looking to respond in any matter to the invocation of the treaty,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas said during the annual Kapihan sa Embahada informal meeting with defense reporters on Wednesday, March 21. Thomas explained that “we do not see this as a matter that affects the United States or the Philippines-US Mutual Defense Treaty” regardless of any treaty signed almost a hundred years ago. He added, “We have confidence in President Aquino and Prime Minister Najib’s ability to resolve this issue peacefully.”

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