US President Joe Biden said he was committed to “deepening maritime and security ties” with Japan and the Philippines, as he sought to assure allies worried about increasingly assertive Chinese actions in disputed waters.
“The United States’ defense commitments to Japan and to the Philippines are ironclad,” Biden said on Thursday before a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the White House, their first trilateral summit.
“Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty,” Biden added.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Philippines under Marcos has adopted a more assertive footing to the growing number of Chinese patrols in the South China Sea, where both nations have competing maritime claims. Tensions are centered around the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙), where Manila maintains a grounded World War-II era ship. Chinese vessels have used water cannons to block Philippine military missions that rotate and resupply troops on the ship.
Beijing yesterday responded that defense cooperation between nations should not target any specific country. Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) criticized a “certain non-regional country” for frequently sending military vessels and aircraft to the South China Sea, and gathering its allies to build “small cliques” against China.
“These acts are irresponsible and extremely dangerous,” he said.
Biden, Kishida and Marcos agreed to step up military exercises, including plans for Philippine and Japan Coast Guard members to patrol aboard a US Coast Guard vessel in the Indo-Pacific region, a joint statement released on Thursday evening said.
The nations also plan to conduct more training exercises at sea.
Maritime security topped the summit agenda following a series of incidents, including Chinese Coast Guard ships firing water cannons last month at a civilian Philippine boat. The three countries on Sunday joined Australia for military drills in the South China Sea.
“We steadfastly oppose the dangerous and coercive use of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea, as well as efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation,” the three leaders said in the joint statement.
At the White House earlier, Kishida said that “as the world faces a complex crisis, it is important that we work in a multilayered effort with like-minded countries and allies to maintain and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law.”
Biden and Kishida have striven to demonstrate unity with the Philippines, part of a broader US strategy to bolster partnerships in the Indo-Pacific and encourage allies to strengthen their own ties amid growing alarm over China’s military and economic influence.
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
RSS