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The Philippines
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Philippines-China relations: will 3-way summit with US, Japan further erode Manila-Beijing ties?

  • Manila says the summit isn’t ‘directed at any country’. But analysts speculate it aims to strengthen maritime defensive efforts to counter China
  • It comes as Japan, the US, Australia and the Philippines have held joint drills in the South China Sea after the latest Second Thomas Shoal face-off

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US President Joe Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr at the White House last year. Marcos Jnr is set to attend a trilateral summit in Washington on Thursday with Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Photo: AP
Jeoffrey Maitem
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr will attend a trilateral summit in Washington on Thursday with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a meeting that analysts say could push Beijing to reduce trade with Manila.

Observers have also speculated that the main reason behind the two-day summit is to strengthen maritime defensive efforts to counter China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the Asia-Pacific.

Hans Mohaiman Siriban, the Philippines’ acting foreign affairs deputy undersecretary for bilateral relations, said the summit was “not directed at any country” but aimed to deepen ties on economic cooperation, maritime security and climate change among the three countries.
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The summit comes on the heels of China’s coastguard vessels and its maritime military using water cannons on Philippine coastguard ships accompanying boats on a supply mission to Manila’s military outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on March 23.
Chinese coastguard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea last month. Photo: Reuters
Chinese coastguard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea last month. Photo: Reuters
Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippines’ ambassador to the US, said in a press conference on Thursday that the summit will focus on advancing the three countries’ partnership by promoting trilateral growth and emerging technologies that will further enhance peace in the region.
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