Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez underscored the importance of a “strong bilateral relationship” between the Philippines and the United States (US) to bringing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The region, which includes China, the Philippines, and other claimants of resource-rich South China Sea, is critical to the national interests of the United States. “In the midst of geopolitical realities, especially in our part of the world, the Philippines and the United States are at a juncture where important relations call for heightened and balanced security alliance and economic engagements,” Romualdez said as quoted by the Philippine Embassy in Washington in his lecture at the Institute of World Politics (IWP) last March 9. “Without doubt, having a strong bilateral relationship between our two countries will contribute to regional peace, stability, and security in the Indo-Pacific area,” he added. According to the embassy, the IWP is an independent graduate school founded to fill a major national need: “to supply professional education in statecraft, national security, intelligence, and international affairs that no other school offers and that few people acquire except through an entire career of on-the-job experience.” Romualdez talked about what's in store for the Philippine-US relations on topics of Philippine-US bilateral relations, Philippine foreign policy priorities, Philippine perspectives on global and regional security challenges, the Philippine-US alliance within the context of the Indo-Pacific, and prospects for future relations. His lecture came at a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea as China moves to the Philippines’ territorial waters in Pag-asa Island and occupies key features of the shoals inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This even as the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award dismissed Beijing’s vast claims in the region that are founded on a nine-dash line in ancient Chinese maps, and amid the strengthening of military ties between Washington and Manila that would lead to additional US presence in the contested waters.