In a joint statement published Monday, the United States and the Philippines underlined the need for peace across the Taiwan Strait, despite Beijing's threatening tactics towards the self-ruled island.
President Joe Biden met with his Philippine counterpart, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., at the White House and delivered a joint statement reaffirming the US-Philippines strategic relationship.
Marcos' trip to the US was the first by a Philippine president in almost a decade.
“We are facing new challenges. And I can’t think of any better partner to have than you,” Biden told the Philippine leader.
Marcos stressed the significance of the US as his country's lone treaty friend in the Indo-Pacific region, which he described as having "arguably the most complicated geopolitical situation in the world right now."
“It is only natural for the Philippines to look to its sole treaty partner in the world to strengthen and to redefine the relationship that we have and the roles that we play in the face of those rising tensions that we see now around the South China Sea and Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions,” he said.
The two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to "freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea" as well as "maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," where China has boosted military activity.
According to the joint declaration, both partners "affirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable component of global security and prosperity."
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry praised the joint statement issued by the United States and the Philippines, noting the "high degree of consensus among countries in the region on preserving cross-strait peace and stability."
The leaders' meeting between the United States and the Philippines came as Beijing was accused of breaching the Philippines' territorial zone in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually exclusively based on its nine-dash line. From April 18 to 24, more than 100 Chinese paramilitary marine boats were seen within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
On April 30, only hours before leaving for Washington, Marcos requested Beijing to create a "direct communication line" between their authorities in order to avoid dangerous accidents between warships in the disputed waters.
“The Philippines’ goal is simple: We work for peace. We will not encourage any provocative action … We will not allow that to happen,” he told reporters.
