CNN
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President Joe Biden is expected to welcome Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the White House this week as part of continued efforts to strengthen security and economic relations between the US and the Philippines amid regional concerns over an increasingly assertive China.
Senior administration officials described new steps and initiatives that will be announced this week, including a new set of bilateral defense guidelines to strengthen the alliance and the transfer of US hardware – including three C-130 aircraft and additional patrol vessels – to support efforts to modernize Manila’s armed forces.
Other initiatives expected to be announced include a US trade mission to the Philippines later this year and $3 billion in public and private financing to buttress infrastructure for critical minerals, according to the officials.
As part of Biden’s meeting with Marcos, he will also reaffirm Washington’s “ironclad” security commitment to the Philippines, the officials said. A 1951 mutual defense treaty stipulating that both sides would help defend each other if either were attacked by a third party remains in force.
Marcos’ visit will cap a busy month in bilateral engagements as defense ties between the two nations have expanded, raising alarms in Beijing. Thousands of American and Filipino troops have taken part in joint exercises over the past three weeks. And the US recently hosted two top diplomats from the Philippines for talks during which both sides agreed to complete a roadmap for Washington to provide security assistance to its regional ally over the next five to 10 years.
Last year, the US granted $100 million to boost the Southeast Asian country’s defense capabilities and military modernization. It also plans to allocate $100 million for the improvement of military bases to which the US has access under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA.
In February, the Philippines granted new rights to the US military to add four bases to the five originally covered under the EDCA. The new facilities include three on the main island of Luzon, close to Taiwan, and one in Palawan province in the South China Sea.
China, which remains one of the Philippines’ top trading partners, has grown increasingly outspoken about the burgeoning US-Filipino defense ties.
Beijing’s ambassador in Manila, Huang Xilian, accused the Philippines last month of “stoking the fire” of regional tensions by offering expanded military base access to the US, saying that the goal was to interfere in China’s affairs with Taiwan.
China’s ruling Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan but claims the self-ruled island democracy as its own and has repeatedly refused to rule out taking it by force – a threat that Manila perceives as reason to ramp up its guard with help from Washington.
A spokesperson for Marcos’ National Security Council responded to Huang’s remarks by saying that “the Philippines has no intention of interfering in the Taiwan issue.”
