Bilateral talks between Pres. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and US Pres. Joe Biden.
NEW YORK CITY — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. made a pivot from his predecessor’s foreign policy and is now strengthening the country’s relations with the United States as he met with US President Joe Biden on Thursday.
In his remarks to President Biden before going into the first bilateral talks between the two nations, Marcos said the Philippines is the US’ partner, ally, and friend, noting that the relations of the two countries “continue to evolve.”
“The 100-plus-year-old relationship between the Philippines and the US continues to evolve as we face the challenges of this new century and the events that we have been watching over the past few months really. So we have very much to discuss in terms of redefining I suppose in many ways,” he said.
“We are your partners, we are your allies, we are your friends. And in like fashion, we have always considered the United States our partner, our ally and our friend,” Marcos added.
Marcos’ meeting with Biden signals the pivot in the Philippines’ foreign policy towards the US since his predecessor, then President Rodrigo Duterte, leaned on to China and Russia.
With this, Duterte did not set foot in the US during his entire six-year term.
The former President, however, was able to meet with then US President Donald Trump when the former American leader went to Manila in 2017 for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
For his part, Biden said the US-Philippine relations has “very deep roots,” although admitting that the two countries had “rocky times.”
“The fact is it’s a critical, critical relationship from our perspective. I hope you feel the same way,” the US President said.
“And our foundations are strong with the US-Philippine alliance which has critical importance,” Biden added.