April 11 (UPI) — President Joe Biden Thursday will host the first-ever trilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to strengthen alliances in the Indo-Pacific.
The summit is a strong message of unity as China grows more aggressive in asserting power in the South China Sea.
According to senior administration officials during a White House briefing, the three leaders will also cover areas ranging from energy security to infrastructure to critical and emerging technlogies to maritime security.
Biden will reinforce “ironclad” U.S. alliance defense commitments to both Japan and the Phillipines during the summit.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also assured the Philippines in March of that ironclad commitment.
That prompted a response from China that said the United States is not a party to the conflict in the South China Sea and has no right “to interfere in the maritime issues between China and the Philippines.”
Senior administration officials said the trilateral summit is part of Biden’s prioritization of reinvigorating the U.S. network of alliances and partnerships around the world.
The summit bolsters what National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has called an “overlapping latticework” of mutually reinforcing partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.
The White House made it quite clear that the U.S.-Philippines mutual defense treaty applies to the South China Sea and includes the Philippines’ coast guard and other vessels there.
Nick Szechenyi, of Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, told The Hill that the trilateral summit “is meant to initiate sort of a new chapter” between the three countries, with a focus on maritime security “to demonstrate to China that the U.S. and its allies will continue to resist attempts at coercion.”
In addition to security guarantees and military cooperation, the summit also will deal with important new infrastructure projects known as the PGI Luzon corridor.
According to the State Department, PGI corridors focus on geographically connected areas with integrated investments “in transportation, clean energy supply chains information and communications technology, agricultural systems, or health and health security leverage broader and more transformative effects, with the aim of significantly boosting economic development opportunities.”
The first-ever PGI corridor in the Indo-Pacific will connect Subic Bay, Clark, Manilla and Batangas in the Philippines to accelerate coordinated investments in ports, rail, clean energy, semiconductors, and supply chains.
Defense and security ties continue to serve as the cornerstone of the alliance with Japan and the Philippines, senior administration officials said.
They said the trilateral summit is a clear demonstration of support and a message that the United States and Japan stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the Philippines.
That support includes four new sites under the Enhanced Cooperation Defense Agreement providing an additional $100 million in foreign military financing for the Philippines.
In addition to the trilateral defense cooperation, Japan, Australia and the United States are working on a coordinated network of radars and sensors to better integrate ballistic and air defense capabilities in the Indo-Pacific.
Marcos is also coming under pressure from what senior administration officials called China’s aggressive tactics in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
The United States, Japan and the Philippines continue to closely coordinate what senior administration officials called the question of “China’s so-called gray zone tactics, its coercive tactics, and what the implications of those might be.”
