TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Marcos Jr, Biden affirm freedom of navigation in South China Sea
Marcos took office in June, succeeding Rodrigo Duterte, whose foreign policy was largely defined by his pivot to China. The Biden administration is apparently hoping to improve ties with the new leader of the Southeast Asian nation to better counter Beijing.
Change Size
US President Joe Biden meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City on September 22, 2022.
(AFP/Mandel Ngan)
U
S President Joe Biden and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday affirmed their support for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where Manila has overlapping territorial claims with Beijing, according to the White House.
Marcos took office in June, succeeding Rodrigo Duterte, whose foreign policy was largely defined by his pivot to China. The Biden administration is apparently hoping to improve ties with the new leader of the Southeast Asian nation to better counter Beijing.
"We've had some rocky times, but the fact is it's a critical, critical relationship, from our perspective," Biden said at the outset of his first face-to-face summit meeting with Marcos, which took place in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The Philippine president said, "The role of the United States in maintaining the peace in our region is something that is much appreciated by all the countries in the regions and the Philippines especially."
According to the White House, Biden reaffirmed the "ironclad" US commitment to the defense of the Philippines. The two leaders also "underscored their support for freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of disputes" regarding the situation in South China Sea.
Having built artificial islets with military infrastructure, Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea.
Its territorial claims in the area overlap with four of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam -- as well as Taiwan.
