Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby assured the Philippines that the United States government will remain committed to their treaty as long as US President Joseph Biden remains in office.
Kirby said this ahead of the trilateral summit between Biden, President Marcos, and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in Washington, DC, on Thursday, April 11.
In a presser with Manila-based reporters in Washington, DC, Kirby said the Filipino people can count on Biden’s support as long as he remains the chief executive amid a possibility of a leadership exchange in the coming US November elections.
“For as long as President Biden is the president of the United States, the Philippines can count on him and his team’s full support from proving our bilateral relationship and for meeting our commitment, our treaty commitments to the Philippines,” he said on Wednesday (Manila time).
“What I can assure you and [the] Philippine people, and of course, President Marcos and his team, is that as long as President Biden is commander-in-chief, as long as he is the President of the United States, we will continue to work hard of this relationship,” he added.
Kirby added the US government will do everything it can to sustain its good relationship with the Philippines amid China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea.
“When you are able to look at things like trilateral, quadrilateral cooperation, it becomes all the more relevant particularly when we look at what is going on in the South China Sea,” he said.
According to the White House official, President Marcos’ visit aims to enhance the economic and energy security between the Philippines and the US, foster maritime cooperation, invest in critical infrastructure, and deepen the people-to-people relationship between the two countries.
Marcos and Biden are set to have a bilateral meeting before the said historic summit at the White House.
The diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the US span 77 years since its formal establishment on July 4, 1946. — Argyll Cyrus Geducos
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
