Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.”
The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international law and regional stability.
Photo: AFP
Biden, who is to step down on Monday next week, was quoted as saying in Manila’s readout that he is “optimistic” his successor, US president-elect Donald Trump, would see the value of continuing the partnership.
“Simply put, our countries have an interest in continuing this partnership and institutionalizing our cooperation across our governments so that it is built to last,” Biden said.
Marcos said he is “confident” the three nations would sustain the gains in deepening their diplomatic ties.
The White House in a statement said that the three leaders discussed China’s “dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,” and agreed on the importance of continued coordination in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said that the three leaders have opposed “unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force” in the East and South China seas, without mentioning Beijing.
Japan and the Philippines — bound by bilateral defense treaties with the US — are also both involved in separate territorial disputes with China in the East and South China seas respectively.
Marcos’ office said that Biden also commended the Philippine leader for his diplomatic response “to China’s aggressive and coercive activities in the South China Sea.”
The Philippines last year ratified a military agreement with Japan that would ease the entry of troops into each other’s nation for joint military exercises. The three nations’ coast guards also staged joint exercises in 2023.
A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal voided Beijing’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea, saying they had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated in the past two years over run-ins between their coast guards in the South China Sea.
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