IRIA News

President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived in Washington on April 30, 2023, on a four-day trip. Marcos’s official trip to the U.S. is the first by a Philippine president in more than 10 years.

The White House invited the President of the Philippines for a bilateral meeting to reaffirm Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to the Philippines. President Marcos is set to meet U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss matters related to the security of the Island nation in the face of China’s increasing activities in the South China Sea.

Before embarking on his important visit Marcos said that he would convey to Biden his determination to forge “an even stronger relationship” with the United States to “address the concerns of our times,” including issues related to the economy. Marcos said, “During this visit, we will reaffirm our commitment to fostering our long-standing alliance as an instrument of peace and as a catalyst of development in the Asia Pacific region, and for that matter for the rest of the world.”

According to the senior officials from both sides, Marcos and Biden are expected to reach agreements on greater business engagement, economic collaboration, and most importantly “military enhancements”.

Philippines Presidential Communications Office said in a statement that during his visit to Washington, D.C., the Philippines president will also meet with key U.S. Cabinet officials and further deepen bilateral relations and political ties.

President Marcos seeks to “advance the Philippines’ socio-economic and development priorities and harness closer partnership in such areas as agriculture, energy, climate change, digital transformation and technology, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, supply chains, and infrastructure” with the U.S., the statement added.

Relations between the U.S. and the Philippines have improved significantly since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in July 2022.  Son of the former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, the 64-years old Ferdinand Marcos Jr. holds a close affiliation with the U.S. administration.

Despite being one of the main trading partners with China, the Philippines is at odds with the regional superpower in the South China Sea and has been angered by the constant presence of vessels in its exclusive economic zone it says are manned by Chinese militia.

The Philippines and the United States have rapidly stepped-up defense engagements in the form of large-scale military exercises and a recent expansion of U.S. access to Philippine bases.

A few weeks ago, President Marcos Jr. announced the locations for the four new bases where the U.S. military forces would be allowed to have access under the expansion of the military defense agreement between the two countries. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had asked for four new bases from the Philippines’ administration during his visit to Manila and Seoul in February this year.

Experts believe that Washington sees the Philippines as a suitable location to carry out rockets, missiles, and artillery attacks on China’s amphibious fleet in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

Separately on April 29, 2023, the U.S. Department of State released a statement highlighting that the United States stands with the Philippines in “upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.”

Earlier this month, the Philippines and United States forces participated in the largest exercise between the two countries, “Balikatan 2023”, with more than 17,600 participants. During the exercise, U.S. and Philippine forces participated in a combined joint littoral live-fire exercise and conducted various training operations, including firing missiles from M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

According to the U.S. Marines statement, during the exercise, the bilateral weapons systems consisted of “U.S. and Philippine artillery, High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, Avenger air defense systems, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, Philippine Air Force FA-50 Golden Eagle fighter-attack aircraft, F-16 Fighting Falcons, U.S. Marine F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, and a U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command AC-130 Spectre gunship.”