PH, US, Japan to hold trilateral meetings in Manila and Washington, senior officials say

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japan Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa will visit Manila next week for talks focusing on bolstering defense and economic ties ahead of a summit of their leaders in US next month, Philippine government sources told the GMA News Online Wednesday.

Blinken will first arrive in Manila on March 18 for bilateral talks with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and other senior Philippine officials before their March 20 trilateral ministerial meeting with Kamikawa, the sources said.

The top-level meetings follow a series of hostilities between Chinese and Philippine ships and vessels in the disputed South China Sea, which have been denounced by the Philippines along with the United States and Japan.

At the top of their agenda is a planned trilateral summit of US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. at the White House in Washington DC on April 11, according to the sources.

The US and Japan have also boosted their trade and investments in the Philippines while enhancing defense cooperation.

"Japan is really a major partner and ally for our defense and security plus our economic relations," a senior Philippine official privy to the arrangements for the the high-level meetings said.

Biden will host Kishida for an official visit to the US on April 10.

Visiting US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced new investments in the Philippines worth more than $1 billion by 22 American companies in a news conference at the Solaire Hotel in Pasay City on Monday. 

Biden sent Raimondo with executives of the 22 US companies, including Microsoft, Google and Fedex, to the Philippines to explore ways of expanding trade and investment as he promised to Marcos during a meeting at the White House in May last year.

Kishida, meanwhile, visited the Philippines in November last year and met with Marcos. Both agreed to intensify bilateral relations in a wide range of sectors, including trade and investment and defense cooperation.

The government sources said Marcos will visit the United States from April 11 to 13. He will initially have a bilateral meeting with Biden at the White House on April 11 then the two leaders will be joined by Kishida in a trilateral summit, also at the White House, on the same day.

The Philippine leader will also meet top US defense and security officials during his visit and is scheduled to speak in a business forum organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council. He will meet the Filipino community before flying back to Manila, the government sources said.

The US, Japan and the Philippines have been the most vocal critics of China's aggressive actions in the South China Sea. 

The Philippines has ongoing negotiations with Japan for Reciprocal Access Agreement that will allow larger numbers of Japanese Self Defense forces to enter the Philippines for joint training with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and to help respond to natural calamities.

The Philippines has similar status of forces agreements with US and Australia. American and Philippine forces are slated to hold major Balikatan exercises involving thousands of military personnel in the Philippines next month, including in provinces facing the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

China has repeatedly protested the annual exercises and warned the US not to intervene in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, saying the US was militarizing the contested region and threatening regional stability.  —with Reuters/KBK, GMA Integrated News