WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden told Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the White House on Monday that the US commitment to the defence of its ally was “ironclad,” including in the South China Sea where Manila is under pressure from China.
Mr Marcos, on the first White House visit by a Philippines leader in 10 years, stressed the importance of the United States as his country’s sole treaty ally in a region with “arguably the most complicated geopolitical situation in the world right now.”
US officials said the leaders would agree new guidelines for stronger military cooperation, as well as stepped up economic cooperation, underscoring a dramatic turnaround in US-Philippine relations over the past year.
“The United States remains ironclad in our commitment to the defence of the Philippines, including the South China Sea,” Mr Biden told Mr Marcos in the Oval Office, reaffirming a 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty that calls for the United States to act in the event of an armed attack on the Philippine military.
US official said the new guidelines focused on military coordination across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace, while the US administration will also transfer three C-130 aircraft and look to send additional patrol vessels to the Philippines.
“It is only natural for the Philippines to look to its sole treaty partner in the world to strengthen and to redefine the relationship that we have and the roles that we play in the face of those rising tensions that we see now around the South China, Asia Pacific and Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Marcos said.
Under Rodrigo Duterte, Mr Marcos’ predecessor, US relations soured as he turned the Philippines sharply away from its former colonial ruler and built closer ties with China.
The summit is the centrepiece of a four-day US visit by Mr Marcos that started on Sunday.
Mr Biden has invested in courting Mr Marcos, who still faces a US court judgment connected with US$2 billion of plundered wealth under his father’s rule.
Washington helped Mr Marcos’ father flee into exile in Hawaii during a 1986 “people power” uprising and as head of state his son is immune from US prosecution.
Mr Biden noted to Mr Marcos that “it’s been a while since you’ve been here,” before adding that Mr Marcos Jr had accompanied his father to the United States when he met former president Ronald Reagan.
Mr Marcos became president last year and has sought warm relations with both the United States and China, who are vying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.