Deputy Spokesperson @Toner_Mark announces @JohnKerry's upcoming travel to #Austria, #France, #Laos, #Philippines https://t.co/LtpZnfaAnm

— Department of State (@StateDept) July 19, 2016

MANILA – Malacañang sees the upcoming visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry as an opportunity to enhance ties between the two treaty allies.

Kerry is set to meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte following the recent arbitration victory of its oldest ally against China over conflicting claims in the South China Sea.

READ: Arbitral court's ruling on Philippines vs China

A statement from Mark Toner, deputy spokesperson of the US State Department, said Kerry will be in Manila on July 26 to 27 to meet with Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay and ''discuss the full range of our cooperation with the new administration."

The Presidential Communications Office described Duterte's meeting with Kerry as "a bid to strengthen ties anew with the US."

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) recently invalidated China's expansive claim to the disputed South China Sea.

The US does not take sides in the South China Sea dispute, although it has repeatedly stressed that the rule of law must prevail.

It has also conducted a number freedom of navigation patrols near China's man-made islands in the Spratlys in an attempt to challenge Beijing's maritime claims.

Because of such activities, Beijing has accused Washington of militarizing the region.

Duterte earlier said that his foreign policy will not be too dependent on the dictates of Washington, which has Manila as its oldest treaty alliance.

In one of his press briefings, Duterte said that while the Philippines has a pact with the West, ''I want everybody to know that we will be charting a course of our own."

He also asked outgoing US Ambassador to the Philip Goldberg the question "are you with us or not with us?" in a courtesy call in Davao City last month.

Duterte has also alarmed pro-U.S. observers with his softness towards China.

Kerry's Manila visit is his final stop in a range of visits to various countries which will begin on July 22.

The US State Department said Kerry will travel to Vienna, Austria, on July 22 to join Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and the US Delegation in Vienna for the first day of high-level talks at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.

''The meeting is aimed at making progress on a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown amendment for adoption later this year. Achieving such an amendment would build upon the climate change success achieved last year in Paris, and is one of the most consequential and cost-effective actions the global community can take this year to combat climate change,'' Toner said.

After the Vienna visit, Kerry will be travel to Vientiane, Laos, from July 25 to 26 to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers Meeting, the ASEAN-U.S. Ministerial Meeting, and the Lower Mekong Initiative Ministerial Meeting.

''At these ASEAN meetings the Secretary will discuss the region's security architecture and shared transnational challenges including maritime security, Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the South China Sea,'' Toner said.