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US-Japan-Philippines summit

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:444px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1712961690922Screen Shot 2024-04-13 at 6.41.16 AM.png" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"></span></span></span></div><p style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;padding:0px;border:0px"><span style="text-align:center;position:relative;max-width:100%;margin:5px auto;display:block;float:none;vertical-align:top;width:900px"><span style="padding:0px;margin:auto;width:100%"><span style="margin:auto;display:block;padding:5px 5px 10px;opacity:0.9;width:900px;text-align:left"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap">US President Joe Biden heads to a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (R) and Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (L) at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 11, 2024. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, AFP </span></span></span></span>WASHINGTON  — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday told the United States’ defense chief that Manila and Washington may be “able to provide continuing defense of international law” by “getting closer and working together.”</p><p>Marcos Jr. gave the statement during his visit to the Pentagon a day after the trilateral summit of the Philippines, Japan and the United States.</p><p>“This visit here to the Pentagon reaffirms once again the strength of the relationship between the United States and the Philippines in the face of all the threats and challenges that we have had to face together,” the Philippine President said.</p><p>“I can only see that our two countries getting closer and working together, and in closer coordination so as to be able to provide continuing defense of international law  and international rule of–in the UNCLOS especially in the differing claims that we are having to deal with in South China Sea,” he said.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/4/12/philippines-japan-us-to-mount-combined-naval-training-amid-china-s-dangerous-behavior-901">Philippines, Japan, US to mount combined naval training amid China’s ‘dangerous behavior&#x27; </a><br/><br/><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/4/12/why-would-the-us-defend-the-philippines-1452">Why would the US defend the Philippines?</a></div><p>Despite this, Marcos Jr. said that the new agreements forged during the trilateral summit were “not as a response to any particular challenge or threat but merely a continuing development and evolution of the relationship that we have been fostering over a hundred years.”</p><p>“The Philippines is always able to look to the United States for support and we hope that this trilateral agreement, which we formalized yesterday will be a formalization of an added multilateral support and structure that will make the safety, the peace and the stability of the South China a reality and continued to be a reality,” he said.</p><p>Marcos Jr. said that he hopes Manila and Washington “can continue that trend.”</p><p>Manila and Washington’s “alliance has never been this strong,” Austin said, noting that the Biden administration requested $128-B to fund 36 projects in various Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/04/05/23/fast-facts-philippine-bases-us-soldiers-can-use">FAST FACTS: Philippine bases US soldiers can use</a><br/><br/><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/16/23/ph-us-eye-more-edca-projects-high-level-exchanges-in-2024-afp">PH, US eye more EDCA projects, &#x27;high-level&#x27; exchanges in 2024</a></div><p>Manila and Washington have been treaty allies since 1951 after the two countries signed a Mutual Defense Treaty, which guarantees that the two parties will come to the defense of the other in the event of an armed attack.</p><p>Earlier this week, the US and Japan vowed to pour in <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/4/11/ph-alliance-with-us-japan-to-bring-more-jobs-more-investments-for-filipinos-biden-635">billions worth of investments</a> to help the Philippines become more economically resilient amid China’s continued incursions and illegal actions in the South China Sea.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;UNPRECEDENTED&#x27; MEETING OF SECURITY OFFICIALS</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The Philippines and the United States on Friday held an “unprecedented” bilateral meeting involving its top security officials as the allied countries pushed to “further concretize our deepening security partnership” amid China’s “escalation of its harassment” in the South China Sea.</p><p>Manila hopes the meeting of the heads of the Philippines’ and the United States’ departments of defense, foreign relations and national security will be “a regular event” so that the traditional allies can “reinforce [their] regular Bilateral Strategic Dialogue, as well as [their] ongoing maritime dialogue,” said Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.</p><p>“I just wanted to mention that we attach a lot of importance to this meeting, especially in the light of recent developments in the South China Sea, especially China’s escalation of its harassment resulting most recently in the injury of four Filipino seamen,” he said.</p><p>“I think our meeting today will enable us to hopefully be in a better position to coordinate our responses, both diplomatic and on the defense and security fronts in relation to any actions in the South China Sea, whether they’re positive or negative, including in the Ayungin Shoal,” he said.</p><p>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ministerial level meeting “reflects the growing and deepening cooperation” between the Philippines and the United States, including their “shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, including in the South China Seas.”</p><p>“We very much welcome this opportunity to pursue that cooperation, collaboration, and of course we stand with the Philippines in our ironclad defense commitments, including the Mutual Defense Treaty,” Blinken said.</p><p>The alliance between the Philippines and the US “is stronger than ever” under the current administrations, said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.</p><p>“We’ll discuss a whole-of-government vision for this alliance,” the US defense chief said, noting that the two countries have been working “to strengthen interoperability between our forces, to expand our operational coordination, and to stand up to coercion in the South China Sea.”</p><p>“We all know that our shared security relies on strong military bonds, shared economic opportunities, and robust people-to-people ties,” he said.</p><div> </div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OaMBCdZqneA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday told the United States’ defense chief that Manila and Washington could “provide continuing defense of international law” by “getting closer and working together.”</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday told the United States’ defense chief that Manila and Washington could “provide continuing defense of international law” by “getting closer and working together.”

Marcos: Philippines, US can defend international law by 'getting closer, working together'

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Marcos: Philippines, US can defend international law by 'getting closer, working together'

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 13, 2024 07:02 AM PHT

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South China Sea

West Philippine Sea

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China

Japan

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