Biden, Kishida, Marcos Jnr trilateral to show support for Philippines amid confrontations with China: US officials

The leaders will unveil a series of security and economic initiatives as part of the effort, the officials told reporters on Wednesday.

“It is very unfortunate that [China] has continued to use coercive tactics,” one of the US officials said. “We do see that, every time it does, an increasing number of supporters come out to stand behind international law in the Philippines.”

“The last time there was an interdiction of a Philippine routine resupply effort, as many as over two dozen countries came out with vociferous support.”

Thursday’s Japan-US-Philippines trilateral summit is designed to further underscore US and Japanese encouragement for the Southeast Asian nation that has often found itself on the front lines of regional tension because of its position between the western Pacific’s first and second island chains.

“Freedom of the seas isn’t an abstraction for a country like the Philippines, with over 7,500 islands,” said Daniel Russel of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former State Department official.

Not only did Biden reiterate US alliance commitments to the Philippines “which are crystal clear” but it clearly voiced US concern about Chinese actions around the Second Thomas Shoal, area claimed by Manila that has seen repeated Chinese muscle flexing, she added.

And the US is inviting Marcos to the White House for bilateral and trilateral talks for the first time ever, she said.

“This is very clearly a purposeful signal of support and resolve to Marcos,” the senior official added. “This is an invitation to the president from the president to a close ally. That is intended to signal very clearly that we support the Philippines at this difficult moment.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to