WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday that U.S. defense commitment to Pacific allies was “ironclad” as he gathered Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Thursday in the midst of growing concern about provocative Chinese military action in the Indo-Pacific.
Chinese action in the Pacific is expected to be a large focus of the leaders’ talks. The White House sees the first-ever trilateral summit with Japan and the Philippines as a potent response to China’s attempts at “intimidation” and sending a message that China is “the outlier in the neighborhood,” according to an administration official.
"Today’s summit is an opportunity to define the future that we want and how we intend to achieve it together," Marcos said. The United States, the United Kingdom and Japan on Wednesday announced joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific in 2025. That followed the Pentagon revealing earlier this week that the U.S., the U.K. and Australia were considering including Japan in the AUKUS partnership, a grouping launched in 2021 that aims to equip Australia with nuclear-powered and conventionally armed submarines.
Biden, in a wide-ranging phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, raised concerns about China’s operations in the South China Sea, including efforts to impede the Philippines, which the U.S. is treaty-obligated to defend, from resupplying its forces on the Second Thomas Shoal.
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