WATCH: US War chief Hegseth arrives in PH for ASEAN defense meeting

United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday night to attend the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus).

The US Department of War shared a video of Hegseth’s arrival on its official Facebook page.

The Philippines is hosting the 20th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the 13th ADMM-Plus on October 28 and 29 in Cebu.

ADMM-Plus brings together ASEAN defense ministers and their counterparts from dialogue partner countries to discuss regional security issues and strengthen defense cooperation.

This year’s theme is “Navigating Our Future Together.”

ADMM is ASEAN's highest defense consultative and cooperative mechanism, according to the Department of National Defense (DND).

The ADMM-Plus expands defense cooperation to eight dialogue partners including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States.

The South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea are expected to be among the topics discussed during the meetings.

Other anticipated areas of cooperation include maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, counterterrorism, peacekeeping operations, military medicine, humanitarian mine action, and cybersecurity.

Manila’s broad priorities in its bilateral relations with the US include strengthening the alliance, defense modernization, and future capacity and capability building, according to the DND. —VAL, GMA News