U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed unwavering defense commitments to Japan and the Philippines during the landmark trilateral summit in Washington DC on Thursday.
“I want to be clear, the United States defense commitments to Japan and the Philippines are iron clad. As I’ve said before, any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels, or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty,” Biden said.
Biden described President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the historic gathering as friends and partners, bound by a shared vision and pursuit of a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
The U.S. and Japan also expressed their full commitment to helping the Philippines advance its efforts to address climate change and further boost its economy to create industries and more jobs for Filipinos.
Biden and Kishida forged a stronger trilateral alliance with the Philippines as they vowed to protect the Indo-Pacific region to secure a better future for all.
Marcos said the trilateral meeting among the Philippines, the U.S. and Japan would be “bound by a shared vision and pursuit of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific” region amid challenges to international rules-based order.
The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States of America serves as the foundation for the close security cooperation between the two countries.
This foundation was further enhanced by the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The VFA provides the legal basis and status protection for US military and its civilian personnel in the Philippines on official business.
However, the EDCA authorizes US forces to access agreed locations in the Philippines on a rotational basis for security cooperation exercises, joint and combined military training activities, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief activities.
