The United States will stand by its Asian allies in the event a conflict, US President Joe Biden said at a meeting in the White House with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines.
At the meeting, Biden said: ‘The United States’ defence commitments to Japan and to the Philippines are ironclad.’
Rising tensions with China have seen a renewed focus by the US on its security agreements in Asia, as well as reassessments of their geopolitical stances by those allied nations. Japan has reversed its post-World War 2 pacificism and have begun seriously to upgrade its military.
The Philippines has long running disputes with China over seas that both countries claim as theirs. China has been employing an ever more aggressive band of encroachment in these waters.
‘Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty,’ Biden warned.
Both Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos are viewed as firmly committed to the alliance with the US.