In warning to China, Biden organizes summit with leaders of Japan and the Philippines
President Biden intends to use the first joint meeting with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines on Thursday to send a strong diplomatic message to an increasingly aggressive China: Beijing’s harassment of Philippine ships in the South China Sea is a violation of international law and must stop.
In recent months, Chinese coast guard ships have been ramming Philippine vessels, shooting them with water cannons and pointing lasers at their crews in what the United States condemns as “coercive and illegal tactics” on one of the routes. most important rivers in the world.
So far, Chinese provocations, which assert disputed claims over international waters, have fallen short of the kind of attacks that would trigger the military defense pact the United States and the Philippines signed in 1951. But Biden administration officials said the meeting The meeting between the three leaders on Thursday aims to demonstrate to China an even stronger military and diplomatic unity between the leaders of the three allies.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting in advance, called the issue of security in the South China Sea a “pillar” of discussions between Biden, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from the Philippines.
“The United States, Japan and the Philippines are three closely aligned maritime democracies with increasingly converging strategic objectives and interests,” Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said Tuesday. “Last week, our three countries and Australia conducted joint naval exercises in the South China Sea.”
Officials said there would be similar exercises in the coming months as nations continue to assert the freedom to travel through international waters that China claims as its own. They called Thursday’s meeting at the White House a show of support by Biden and Kishida for the Philippines in its confrontations with China.
China has asserted greater control over the South China Sea over the years, seeking to expand its military footprint in the region.
The meeting of the three leaders comes a day after Biden hosted Kishida at the White House for meetings and a state dinner. The two men discussed China’s military and economic aggression, but also announced a series of new initiatives to foster greater cooperation in economics, space exploration, technology and research.
Officials said a similar list of announcements was expected after Thursday’s meeting between the three leaders.
The leaders were set to announce new investments in infrastructure projects in the Philippines aimed at improving what they called “high-impact” projects such as ports, railways, clean energy and semiconductor supply chains.
They were also expected to unveil new efforts by the United States and Japan to install radio access network technology in the Philippines, a modernization effort that will improve people’s ability to communicate wirelessly across the region, officials said.
Officials said there would also be other announcements about collaboration between the three nations on global humanitarian assistance efforts and about even greater cooperation between the three countries’ militaries.