Bongbong Marcos meets Joe Biden at the White House
WASHINGTON, DC, United States — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. met with his American counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on Monday (early morning Tuesday Manila time).
Biden welcomed Marcos at the White House at around 2 p.m. (Washington time). The US President took a walk with Marcos across the White House grounds before he and First Lady Jill Biden welcomed him and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos into the White House.
The two heads of state will hold a bilateral meeting, followed by expanded discussions with US officials.
In his opening statement, Marcos acknowledged how the US and the Philippines need to find ways to “strengthen” its alliances and partnerships “in the face of the new economy that we are facing post-pandemic.”
He also admitted that the Philippines was also affected by geopolitical issues in the region, making it “possibly and arguably in the most complicated geopolitical situation in the world right now.”
“So 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 these rising tensions that we see now around the South China Sea and the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific region,” Marcos said.
Marcos then expressed gratitude to Biden for the opportunity to meet with him in the White House to discuss what he called “terribly important issues.”
“We have many things that are new that need to be assessed and again our role as partners in the world – in our worldview of what we are hoping for the future of peace, not only in the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific region but in the whole world,” he said.
