Global Courant 2023-04-30 12:42:25
US President Joe Biden meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City on September 22, 2022.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his meeting with US President Joe Biden on Monday was essential to advancing his country’s national interests and strengthening the “very important alliance” between Manila and Washington.
Before leaving for his four-day official visit to Washington, Marcos said on Sunday he would convey to Biden his determination to forge “an even stronger relationship” with the United States to “address the concerns of our time,” including issues in related to the economy.
“During this visit, we will reaffirm our commitment to advancing our long-standing alliance as an instrument of peace and a catalyst of development in the Asia-Pacific region, and for that matter to the rest of the world,” said Marcos, the son of the deceased strongman who helped Washington flee to Hawaii during a people power uprising in 1986.
Marcos’s official visit to Washington is the first by a Philippine president in more than a decade, and the latest in a series of high-level meetings the Philippines has held with leaders of the United States and China, vying for strategic advantage in the region.
Biden and Marcos are expected to agree on greater business involvement and “military improvements” amid shared concerns about China, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters.
The senior US government official said the strategic importance of the Philippines cannot be underestimated, although the relationship was more than just security.
CNBC Politics
Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:
The official said that as part of moves to strengthen commercial ties, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo would lead a presidential business delegation to the Philippines.
While Marcos sought good relations with both China and the United States, Manila grew increasingly concerned about “provocative” diplomacy by Beijing and sought stronger ties with allies, he said.
“We are not trying to provoke, but to provide both moral and practical support to the Philippines as they navigate a complex Western Pacific,” the official said. “Their geographic position is critical,” he added.
Experts say Washington sees the Philippines as a potential site for missiles, missiles and artillery systems to counter a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
Marcos’s visit to Washington comes after the Philippines on Friday accused China’s coast guard of “dangerous maneuvers” and “aggressive tactics” in the South China Sea. The maritime confrontation between the two countries comes despite a visit to Manila this weekend by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Faced with such pressure from China, the Philippines and the United States have quickly stepped up their defense efforts, including large-scale military exercises and a recent expansion of US access to Philippine bases. China has objected to the basic agreement.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier this month that it was “too early” to discuss what assets the United States would like to station at bases in the Philippines.
It is a delicate issue for Manila, not only because of its concerns about China, its main trading partner, but also given the domestic resistance to the US military presence in the past.
The two sides agreed in the coming months to finalize a roadmap for the delivery of US defense aid to the Southeast Asian nation over the next five to 10 years.
Referring to the difficult period in bilateral relations under Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, the official said Monday’s summit would be part of efforts to return “alliance management habits” to 1970s levels and eighty.
The official said the US planned to strengthen trilateral dialogue with Japan and the Philippines, and that Marcos would hold talks at the Pentagon about joint maritime patrols.
“We will step up our broader regional security talks with the Philippines on all issues in the South China Sea and elsewhere,” the official said, referring to Manila’s disputed maritime claims with China and other countries.
Separately, the official said no final decision had been made on whether Biden would stop in Papua New Guinea next month as part of an intensified engagement in the Pacific Islands region, but Washington was “in active discussions regardless of our direct high-level interactions with the Pacific.”
