President Joe Biden, center, speaks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before a trilateral meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 11, 2024. | Image Credit: AP
President Joe Biden on Thursday told Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Thursday that US defense commitments to Pacific allies are “ironclad” amid growing concerns about provocative Chinese military action. Indo-Pacific.
The US and the Philippines have had a mutual agreement for more than 70 years. Amid ongoing clashes between the Philippines and Chinese coast guards in the disputed South China Sea, Mr. A reinforcement of Biden's American commitment comes.
“The United States defense commitments to Japan and the Philippines are ironclad. They are ironclad,” Mr. Biden said as he began three-way talks with Mr. Kishida and Mr. Marcos at the White House. Any attack would invoke our mutual defense treaty.”
Relations between China and the Philippines have been repeatedly tested by skirmishes involving the two nations' coast guard vessels in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese coast guard ships also regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands near Taiwan.
China's so-called “grey-zone” harassment has included shining military-grade lasers at the Philippine coast guard, firing water cannons at ships and ramming Philippine ships near the second Thomas Shoal, which both Manila and Beijing claim. In 1999, Manila deliberately drove a World War II-era ship into the shoal, establishing a permanent military presence there.
Mr. Forces on the second Thomas Shoal.
Chinese officials have criticized their actions in the South China Sea and blamed the US for escalating tensions.
“No one should violate China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and China is unwavering in safeguarding our legitimate rights,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Thursday.
The White House billed the first trilateral summit with Japan and the Philippines as a strong response to China's “intimidation” efforts and send a message that China is “out in the neighborhood,” according to an administration official.
The leaders are expected to announce that their coast guards will conduct joint patrols in the Indo-Pacific this year, a follow-up to last year's law enforcement exercise by the allies in waters near the disputed South China Sea. According to a senior Biden administration official who requested anonymity to preview the talks, the US Coast Guard will welcome Filipino and Japanese Coast Guard members aboard the vessel during a patrol for training.
Mr. Biden is Mr. The summit comes a day after he held one-on-one talks with Kishida and hosted a lavish dinner for the Japanese premier at the White House, a diplomatic honor that recognizes Tokyo's growing influence on the global stage. It is designed to send a clear signal that the Democratic administration is determined to build what it calls a “latticework” of alliances in the Indo-Pacific, alongside the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Biden hosted Marcos for a private meeting at the White House ahead of the scheduled three-way talks.
“Today's summit is an opportunity to define the future we want, and how we intend to achieve it together,” Mr Marcos said.
Thursday's three-way summit will have a large economic component with several major US-based companies — including Meta, UPS and Greenbrier Energy — announcing investments in the Philippines, administration officials said. The new deals come after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced more than $1 billion in new investment from American companies in the Philippines following her visit to Manila last month.
Mr. Biden announced that the three nations are launching a new economic corridor in the Philippines as part of the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment to help develop clean energy, ports, agriculture and other projects in the country. Mr Biden said leaders were shaping a “new era” and predicted that “much of our world's history in the coming years will be written in the Indo-Pacific”.
The United States, United Kingdom and Japan on Wednesday announced joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific in 2025. The Pentagon revealed earlier this week that the US, UK and Australia are considering including Japan in the AUKUS partnership. The goal of equipping Australia with nuclear powered and conventionally armed submarines was launched in 2021.
Mr. Kishida visited Capitol Hill on Thursday. He expressed concern about “an inherent self-doubt among some Americans about what their role in the world should be.”
Mr Biden has made it a priority to improve relations with the Philippines after Mr Marcos becomes the country's president in June 2022. The relationship has had its ups and downs over the years and was in a tough spot when Marcos took over. Human rights groups said Marcos' predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte's “war on drugs” led to thousands of extrajudicial killings.
Mr. Marcos, the son and namesake of the country's former dictator, said as a candidate he would look to pursue closer ties with China. But he is leaning more toward Washington amid concerns about China's repressive measures.
Mr Biden hosted him for talks at the White House last year, the first visit to Washington by a Philippine president in more than a decade. Mr. Mr. Biden met with Mr. Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly soon after Marcos took office and sent Vice President Kamala Harris to meet him in Manila in 2022.
Last year, the Philippines agreed to give the US access to four more bases on the islands.