United States President Joe Biden and his Philippines counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr are set to agree on new guidelines to strengthen military cooperation, US officials said, as the two leaders met for talks at the White House.
The meeting in Washington, DC on Monday afternoon comes as the presidents have sought to re-up ties between their two nations, which soured under Marcos Jr’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
The trip, which marks the first official US visit by a president of the Philippines in more than 10 years, also coincides with the Biden administration’s push to counter China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Biden noted that Marcos Jr had previously visited the White House with his father, ousted former leader Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
“Welcome back to the White House. We were talking on the way over, it’s been a while since you’ve been here,” Biden said at the top of the meeting, pledging that the US will continue to support the “modernisation” of the Philippines military.
Marcos Jr, meanwhile, said recent developments have made “the Philippines possibly the most complicated geopolitical situation in the world right now”.
“So it is only natural that the Philippines … look to its sole treaty partner in the world to strengthen, 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 Sea and Asia Pacific,” he said.
China-US competition
A senior US official, who spoke to reporters on background before the meeting, had described the talks as the first of their kind “at this level and intensity between the United States and the Philippines in decades”.
Marcos Jr has sought to balance his country’s relationships with the US and China, as both superpowers vie for influence in the Asia-Pacific region. That’s a departure from Duterte, who was widely seen as prioritising relations with Beijing.
China remains the Philippines’ top trading partner and Marcos Jr visited Beijing in January. However, Beijing’s increasingly assertive claim to almost the entire South China Sea has caused increased concern in Manila.
Still, Marcos Jr signalled as he left for Washington, DC that he was wary of being caught between the superpowers, telling reporters: “We will not allow the Philippines to be used as a staging post for any kind of military action.”
Washington, meanwhile, has seen the Philippines as key to any effort to counter an invasion of Taiwan by China, which claims the island as its own territory.
Biden is also heading to Japan this month for a Group of Seven (G7) meeting and to Australia for a Quad summit with leaders of Japan, India and Australia – two meetings that are expected to focus heavily on China.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Monday’s meeting with Marcos Jr, a Biden administration official said recent signalling from China may push the Philippines closer to the US.
The official referenced a reported comment last month by Beijing’s ambassador to Manila that the Philippines should not support Taiwan’s independence “if you care about the 150,000 overseas foreign workers” of Filipino origin who live there, which some viewed as a “veiled threat”.
“Some of the steps that China have taken have concerned [Marcos Jr]probably even surprised him,” the senior Biden administration official said. “He has strong desire to work closely with both countries but finds himself in a situation that the steps that China’s taking are deeply concerning.”
Military bases
For its part, Manila recently agreed to allow Washington access to four more of its military bases under a so-called Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. The two allies also carried out their largest-ever military manoeuvres in recent weeks.
Under the latest agreement to be finalised during Marcos Jr’s visit, the Biden administration will transfer three C-130 aircraft and look to send additional patrol vessels to the Philippines, a senior official told reporters.
Biden will also reaffirm the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that calls for the US to act in the event of an armed attack on the Philippine military, US officials said.
Biden and Marcos Jr also will discuss economic cooperation, including sending a trade and investment mission to Manila; supporting the rollout of 5G telecommunications technology, and launching public-private financing for critical minerals and “smart” power grid development, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines president’s visit comes as he still faces a US court judgement connected with $2bn of plundered wealth during the rule of his father. But as head of state, the younger Marcos is immune from US prosecution.
A former US colony, the Philippines maintained close ties with Washington even after full independence in 1946.
Relations deepened after Marcos Sr became president in 1965, and continued even as the leader was accused of widespread human rights abuses and consolidating power, including declaring martial law in 1972, suspending parliament, arresting political opponents, and taking control of the courts.
His tenure was marked by widespread corruption and alleged theft from the government, and Washington helped the elder Marcos flee into exile to Hawaii during the 1986 “people power” uprising.
