President Bongbong Marcos has returned to Manila following his trilateral meeting with United States President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Marcos arrived in Manila at 3:03 AM on Sunday.
“During our meeting, we reaffirmed our commitment to a peaceful, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” said Marcos after his trilateral meeting with the two leaders.
The chief executive said that the trilateral partnership will not only revolve around maritime and defense security.
“We are guided by our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and gender equality. We explored ways of enhancing our cooperation in a number of areas of mutual concern, including in enhancing economic resilience and security, promoting inclusive growth and development, addressing climate change and maritime cooperation,” he added.
Marcos said he also took the opportunity to raise to two allies the situation in the South China Sea.
“I took the opportunity to update President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida on the latest developments in the South China Sea, including the recent incident at Ayungin Shoal,” Marcos said.
“I also had a bilateral meeting with President Biden, wherein we reaffirmed our commitment to the long-standing Philippines-U.S. alliance,” he continued.
Marcos said he is not worried about the potential impact of the trilateral partnership with China’s investments in the Philippines.
“China will continue whatever investments they choose to make. This is separate from any proposed or potential Chinese investments in the Philippines. How do I see how it will affect? I don’t see that it will affect, one way or the other,” said Marcos.
