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Asian Angle | Philippines’ Marcos set to talk trade, defence with Biden amid South China Sea, Taiwan tensions
- Manila in a bind despite US strengthened ties as it does not want to risk antagonising its largest trade partner, China, should a crisis erupt over Taiwan
- Shipbuilding in Subic, geothermal project in Mindanao, mineral processing facility among economic issues Marcos Jnr can raise with Biden
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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s meeting with his US counterpart Joe Biden on Monday is a further sign of strengthened ties between the defence allies as tensions in regional hotspots like the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait continue to simmer.
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The trip comes on the heels of expanded US military access to the Southeast Asian country with four new sites opened up, and three days after the conclusion of one of the biggest annual war games between the two nations.
Marcos Jnr attended one drill during which allied militaries undertook coordinated air and land-based strikes to sink a target ship off the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippine leader’s May 1-4 trip to the United States also comes three weeks after defence and foreign affairs secretaries of both countries held a 2+2 dialogue in Washington.
The Monday meeting is Marcos and Biden’s second, after they spoke in New York last year on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. Such large-scale exercises and high-level exchanges give shape to both sides’ desire for the alliance to evolve to suit changing times.
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