On April 13, 2024, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. highlighted the importance of a trilateral cooperation agreement in the South China Sea following a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. During the meeting, President Marcos described the agreement as transformative for regional dynamics but clarified it was designed for enhancing economic and security relations, rather than targeting China specifically.

The trilateral agreement comes amid ongoing disputes over China’s extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea, including recent confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Despite these tensions, Marcos expressed optimism about prospective investment deals and security collaborations arising from the summit.

In a related development, the U.S. has reaffirmed its support for the Philippines with plans to boost infrastructure projects on Philippine bases and ongoing security cooperation. The strengthened ties between the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines are deemed critical for addressing the security challenges posed by China’s actions in the region.

Concurrently, an incident occurred involving the U.S. press corps during President Biden’s recent speech related to this summit. Reporters, including Michael Shear from the New York Times, were inadvertently barred from the event’s beginning. Although a full recording of the remarks was later provided by C-SPAN, this incident underscored ongoing issues with media access during significant diplomatic events, attributing potential causes to recent staffing changes within Biden’s press team.

The summit and related diplomatic activities underscore a collective regional response to China’s increasing militancy in the South China Sea and affirm the enduring military and strategic partnership between the U.S. and the Philippines. This partnership, reinforced during meetings that followed the summit, forms part of a broader U.S. commitment to maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”