미-일-필리핀 3국정상 공동비전성명(240411)

Joint Vision Statement from the Leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States 

We, the leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States, met today for the first Summit between our three countries. As three Indo-Pacific maritime democracies, our nations and the half-billion people we collectively represent are bound together by historical ties of friendship, robust and growing economic relations, and a proud and resolute commitment to our shared fundamental values of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law. We gather today in Washington as equal partners and trusted friends, united by the vision we share of a free and open Indo-Pacific and international order based on international law—a vision we pledge to advance together for decades to come. We believe, fundamentally, that by working together, we can advance the security and prosperity of our own nations, the Indo-Pacific region, and the world.

Our historic Summit today is the culmination of decades of partnership and builds on the recent momentum of our governments’ trilateral efforts. In June 2023, our national security advisors met in Tokyo, and again virtually in December 2023, to establish a common framework for trilateral cooperation among our nations. In July and September 2023, our foreign ministers met to advance our shared agenda on economic security, development, humanitarian assistance, maritime security, and defense. In September 2023, Prime Minister Kishida, President Marcos, and Vice President Harris met to deepen our trilateral cooperation. Following today’s Summit, we intend to further expand trilateral engagements across our governments and to intensify our cooperative efforts across sectors.

Our three nations share a firm commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is connected, prosperous, secure, inclusive, and resilient. We welcome coordination and cooperation with a wide range of partners who share these goals. In that spirit, we affirm our unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity, and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. We underscore our support for Pacific Island countries and intend to transparently and effectively work in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to support the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. Additionally, we welcome efforts to support a peaceful and stable, rules-based Indo-Pacific region, including from the Quad, AUKUS, and the U.S.-Japan-Republic of Korea trilateral framework.

Promoting Inclusive Economic Growth and Economic Resilience

Our three nations resolve to promote enduring, inclusive economic growth and resilience in our countries and the broader Indo-Pacific. We are pursuing economic projects that advance our shared objectives: promoting broad-based and sustainable economic growth, and investing in resilient, reliable, and diversified supply chains. We support the continued progress of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) to advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness for our economies and the broader region. President Marcos welcomes President Biden’s recent Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines and the announcement of more than $1 billion in U.S. private sector investments that help promote the Philippines’ innovation economy, clean energy transition, and supply chain resilience, as well as the continued U.S. commitment to mobilizing private sector investment in the Philippines. President Marcos appreciates Japan’s contribution of Official Development Assistance and private sector investment in its 2022-2023 fiscal year, which exceeded the pledge of JPY 600 billion made in the 2023 Japan-Philippines Joint Statement. We welcome the first trilateral commerce and industry ministers’ meeting that took place earlier today to advance our shared agenda. Our three nations commit to facilitating the steady implementation of ongoing and future economic cooperation projects toward the Philippines’ attainment of upper middle income country status and beyond.

We express concern over and strongly oppose economic coercion, stress the importance of a rules-based economic order, and underscore the need for close coordination in dealing with economic coercion.

Announcing the Luzon Corridor

Our three nations are proud to partner on the first Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment corridor in the Indo-Pacific. Today we are launching the Luzon Economic Corridor, which will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila, and Batangas in the Philippines. Through this corridor, part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment-IPEF Accelerator, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States commit to accelerating coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects, including rail; ports modernization; clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments; agribusiness; and civilian port upgrades at Subic Bay. Japan has long been supporting connectivity in this area, including rails and roads, through Japan International Cooperation Agency. We plan to work with multilateral organizations and the private sector to attract quality, transformative investments. Together we intend to hold a trilateral event promoting investment in the Luzon Corridor on the margins of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Manila in May—the premier U.S. commercial event in the region. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation also intends to open a regional office in the Philippines to facilitate further investments across the Philippines. The Luzon Corridor is a demonstration of our enhanced economic cooperation, focused on delivering tangible investments across multiple sectors. Japan, the Philippines, and the United States are also partnering to expand cooperation and investments in other areas of the Philippines.

 

Developing Critical and Emerging Technologies

We commit to harnessing the talents and ingenuity of our citizens to seize cutting-edge technological opportunities. The United States, subject to Congressional notification, and Japan, with support from Japanese industry, intend to provide at least $8 million for Open Radio Access Network (RAN) field trials and the Asia Open RAN Academy based in Manila, to enable future commercial deployment and an open, interoperable, secure, reliable, and trusted information communications technology ecosystem in the Philippines. This builds on prior U.S. and Japanese investment of over $9 million for these projects in the Philippines. The government of Japan is also seriously considering further investments for the potential commercial deployment of Open RAN technology in the Philippines, including from the Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation Project. The United States and Japan welcome the Philippines’ plan to pilot Open RAN in its national broadband program and free Wi-Fi project. The United States and Japan commend the Philippines’ commitment to develop a national Open RAN policy framework, reaffirming the Philippines’ endorsement of open, interoperable, and trusted architectures. This year, our three countries look forward to holding the first trilateral Cyber and Digital Dialogue to explore additional cooperation opportunities.

 

We intend to pursue a new semiconductor workforce development initiative, through which students from the Philippines will receive world-class training at leading American and Japanese universities, to help secure our nations’ semiconductor supply chains. This initiative complements the expansion of semiconductor investments in the Philippines that would strengthen supply chain resiliency among our three nations. Furthermore, through the CHIPS and Science Act’s International Technology Security and Innovation Fund, the United States and the Philippines plan to coordinate our efforts to develop and expand the Philippine semiconductor workforce to strengthen the global supply chain.

 

Advancing Climate Partnership and Clean Energy Supply Chains

Recognizing the existential threat of the climate crisis, we affirm our commitment to take urgent action this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with a 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit and accelerate efforts to build clean energy economies, while noting different national circumstances. AnchorOur three nations seek to expand trilateral cooperation in the Philippines on the deployment of clean energy technologies, including renewable energy projects such as solar and wind, to support energy requirements in the Philippines and help ensure a just energy transition. We also welcome the first Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels on March 21, where participants from more than 35 countries, including Japan, the Philippines, and the United States, recognized nuclear energy as an important component of a multifaceted and inclusive clean energy transition. Recognizing the Philippines’ request for further training and capacity building for scientists, engineers, and relevant personnel and policy-makers, our three nations seek to expand our partnership on safe and secure civil-nuclear capacity building. Under the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) program, the United States and Japan plan to co-host a nuclear energy study tour in Japan for nuclear experts and policy decision-makers from the Philippines and other FIRST partner countries. We also plan to deepen trilateral cooperation on civilian nuclear workforce development through a trilateral dialogue this year, to advance the Philippines’ civil nuclear energy program.

Japan, the Philippines, and the United States are working together to expand cooperation for the transition to clean energy and create high-standard, clean energy supply chain jobs across our three nations through the mutually beneficial development of resources in clear, transparent, and fair market competition with strong protections for labor rights and the environment. Japan, the Philippines, and the United States support critical minerals industries in all of our countries as a way to promote resilient and reliable global supply chains for critical minerals. We share the goal of producing and supplying battery materials and batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems for the global marketplace. The United States, under the International Visitor Leadership Program, plans to manage a clean energy supply chain training program for select participants from Japan and the Philippines. In addition, the United States and Japan look forward to the Philippines being a founding member of the Minerals Security Partnership Forum, which signifies an important step towards securing and diversifying our collective clean energy supply chains.

Partnering for Peace and Security

Today, President Biden reaffirms the ironclad U.S. alliance commitments to both Japan and the Philippines, which have helped safeguard peace and security in the Indo-Pacific for decades. We underscore our nations’ unwavering commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight, and the importance of respecting the sovereign rights of states within their exclusive economic zones consistent with international law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

We express our serious concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) dangerous and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. We are also concerned by the militarization of reclaimed features and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea. We steadfastly oppose the dangerous and coercive use of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea, as well as efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation. We reiterate serious concern over the PRC’s repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and the disruption of supply lines to Second Thomas Shoal, which constitute dangerous and destabilizing conduct. The final and legally binding July 12, 2016 Arbitral Tribunal determined that this feature lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, and we call on the PRC to abide by the ruling.

We express our serious concerns regarding the situation in the East China Sea, and reiterate our strong opposition to any attempts by the PRC to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea, including through actions that seek to undermine Japan’s longstanding and peaceful administration of the Senkaku Islands.

We affirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity, recognize that there is no change in our basic positions on Taiwan, and call for a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.

We welcome recent cooperation among our three nations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific and commit to deepening that cooperation. The U.S. and Japan continue to support Philippine Coast Guard capacity building, including through Japan’s recent provision of twelve Coast Guard vessels and plans to provide five additional vessels to the Philippines. Following the first-ever joint exercise between our coast guards in 2023, the United States looks forward to welcoming Philippine and Japan Coast Guard members onto a U.S. Coast Guard vessel during a patrol in the Indo-Pacific this year. Within the next year, our coast guards also plan to conduct an at-sea trilateral exercise and other maritime activities in the Indo-Pacific to improve interoperability and advance maritime security and safety. We announce the establishment of a trilateral maritime dialogue to enhance coordination and collective responses to promote maritime cooperation. We are concerned about illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. We support the ability of Filipino and Japanese fisherfolk to pursue their traditional livelihoods. To build regional capacity and address threats posed by transnational crime, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and other maritime challenges, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States plan to expand our efforts to provide maritime law enforcement training and support to partner countries in the region.

Our three nations pledge to strengthen our extensive coordination to promote maritime domain awareness and deepen cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. We emphasize our commitment to advancing multilateral maritime domain awareness cooperation through such venues as the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA). We intend to identify and implement opportunities for combined training with Southeast Asian regional partners. We are also launching a Japan-Philippines-U.S. humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercise, which could be integrated into trilateral or multilateral activities, including Balikatan 2025, to ensure our countries are ready and able to work together seamlessly and expeditiously in response to any crisis or contingency. We resolve to advance trilateral defense cooperation, including through combined naval training and exercises between our three countries and additional partners, such as the recently concluded Maritime Cooperative Activity between Japan, the Philippines, the United States, and Australia, and by coordinating U.S. and Japanese support for Philippine defense modernization priorities. We plan to conduct a maritime training activity around Japan in 2025. Japan also continues to contribute through its new “Official Security Assistance” cooperation framework. The U.S. and the Philippines welcome Japan’s revision of the Three Principles on the Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology and its Implementation Guidelines, which bolsters cooperation through joint development and production to enhance our deterrence capabilities in the region. The U.S. and Japan also welcome the growing defense cooperation between Australia and the Philippines and between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.

Our three nations affirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and strongly condemn the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) escalatory threats and unprecedented number of ballistic missile launches, including multiple intercontinental ballistic missile launches, which pose a grave threat to peace and security. We emphasize the importance of addressing the human rights and humanitarian concerns of the international community, including the immediate resolution of the abductions issue. We strongly urge the DPRK to comply with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and refrain from continued development, testing, and transfer of ballistic missiles to any country, including Russia, which has used these missiles against Ukraine. We assert that these DPRK actions have severe security implications for the Indo-Pacific and European regions. As we continue to affirm our commitment to international law, including the United Nations Charter, we reiterate our unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. To that end, we recall the United Nations General Assembly resolutions stating that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal. Russia’s threats of nuclear weapon use in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are unacceptable, and we state unequivocally that any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would be completely unjustifiable.

We reaffirm our joint pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons, with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as its cornerstone, and call on nuclear weapon states to promote stability and transparency, and engage in substantive dialogue on reducing nuclear risks. As founding members of the “FMCT Friends,” we also call for the immediate commencement of long-overdue negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.

We are committed to championing gender equality and the rights of women and girls in all their diversity. In this regard, we commit to strengthening the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda. We highlight the leading role of women in preventing violent conflict, delivering relief and recovery efforts and pledge to advance the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace and political processes. We welcome the Philippines hosting an International Conference on Women, Peace, and Security in October this year, to review global implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 ahead of its 25th Anniversary in 2025.

Finally, we underscore the importance of strong democratic institutions, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, gender equality, and human dignity. We represent proud, resilient democracies, mindful of our respective challenges but determined to overcome them, and we remain committed to safeguarding the human rights, media freedom, and labor rights of our people. These democratic values form the very foundation of our bilateral relationships and this trilateral partnership. These ideals have helped us build and sustain the mutual trust between us as leaders and between our people. United by these shared values, we commit to continuing our work together to address the consequential issues of our time, and to build a better future for future generations across our nations, the Indo-Pacific, and the world. 

A new trilateral chapter between our three nations begins today.

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APRIL 11, 2024

Readout of President Biden’s Meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

President Biden met today at the White House with President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. of the Philippines. The two Presidents welcomed the unprecedented momentum in U.S.-Philippines relations and reviewed new initiatives to enhance economic and energy security; bolster maritime cooperation; invest in critical infrastructure; reinforce their shared commitment to promote democracy, human rights, and labor rights; and deepen people-to-people ties.

President Biden and President Marcos underscored their commitment to international law in the South China Sea. President Biden reinforced the ironclad U.S. alliance commitment to the Philippines under the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, which extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft—to include those of its Coast Guard— in the Pacific, including anywhere in the South China Sea.

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Fact Sheet:Celebrating the Strength of the U.S.-Philippines Alliance

Today, President Joseph R. Biden welcomed President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. of the Philippines back to the White House. The two Presidents marked the unprecedented strength of the Alliance between the United States and the Philippines and underscored the historic achievements in bilateral relations since they last met at the White House in May 2023. President Biden and President Marcos intend to continue the momentous investments into the special friendship between our two nations.

PROMOTING INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH

The United States and the Philippines are working together to promote inclusive economic growth in both our countries, including through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) launched in 2022. The two leaders celebrate significant achievements in our economic partnership:

Investing in High-Quality Infrastructure: Today, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States announced the first Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) corridor in the Indo-Pacific—the Luzon Economic Corridor—which will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila, and Batangas in the Philippines. Through this corridor, part of the PGI-IPEF Investment Accelerator, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States commit to accelerating coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects, including rail; ports modernization; clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments; agribusiness; and civilian port upgrades at Subic Bay.

Over the last year, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) announced new activities that will leverage over $500 million from the public and private sector to develop high-quality infrastructure in the Philippines. These activities support renewable energy, smart grids, vessel traffic management system upgrades, customs and supply chain modernization, healthcare solutions, and aviation infrastructure. To further these and future efforts, USTDA opened a new office at the U.S. Embassy in Manila in early 2024.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is committed to mobilizing private sector investment in the Philippines, especially in priority sectors like infrastructure, critical minerals, and renewable energy. DFC is proud to announce a new $20 million loan to promote affordable housing throughout the country, bringing DFC’s total commitments in the Philippines to $80 million. DFC also intends to open a regional office in the Philippines to facilitate further investment across the country.

Presidential Trade and Investment Mission: Following through on the commitment made when the two leaders met in May 2023, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo led a Presidential Trade and Investment Mission (PTIM) to Manila in March 2024. The delegation of 22 U.S. companies and organizations highlighted more than $1 billion in combined investments that promote the Philippines’ innovation economy, clean energy transition, and supply chain resilience.

Indo-Pacific Business Forum: The United States and the Philippines will co-host the Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF) in Manila on May 21, 2024. The IPBF is the U.S. government’s premier business event in the Indo-Pacific region and will include over 500 senior business executives and government officials from across the region, supporting infrastructure in the region’s emerging economies and highlighting the economic ties that have contributed to prosperity and interconnectedness in the Indo-Pacific.

Semiconductors Cooperation: In November 2023, the United States began a new partnership with the Philippines to explore opportunities to grow and diversify the global semiconductor ecosystem under the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund, created by the CHIPS Act of 2022. The United States has since partnered with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Philippines’ existing semiconductor ecosystem, as well as with Arizona State University to bolster workforce capacity and create a pipeline of new talent for the semiconductor sector in the Philippines.

Critical Minerals: USTDA is supporting a grant to Eramen Minerals Inc. to develop an ore-to-nickel and cobalt processing plant for the production of critical minerals that are key elements in the supply chain for batteries and energy storage systems. The State Department, under its Energy and Mineral Governance Program, provides technical assistance on nickel sector policy considerations, copper commercialization, fiscal regime development, and environmental and data management of the Philippine critical minerals sector. In addition, $5 million in USAID programming is helping to improve the Philippine business environment and governance standards to facilitate investments in minerals processing and other downstream industries.

Support from U.S. Industry: Private sector investment is a key element to promote economic development and growth in the Philippines. Our two countries are enhancing economic and commercial ties and welcome recent private sector investments in the Philippines to include:

Meta’s announcement of its investment in the Pacific Light Cable Network international submarine cable system intends to support the Philippine government’s new National Fiber Backbone Phase 1. This project would connect the United States with locations on the Philippine island of Luzon, the most populous island and home to Manila. The National Fiber Backbone Phase 1 is estimated to be launched on April 19, 2024 and is planned to be one of the longest direct cable systems in the world, strengthening the digital connection between the United States and the Philippines.

United Parcel Service (UPS), a PTIM participant, announced in March that it had agreed with the Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corporation to expand its operations at Clark International Airport in the Philippines. The move is expected to strengthen UPS’ portfolio of integrated express, supply chain, and healthcare logistics services, enhancing time in transit and improving service reliability. Construction of the new Clark hub is expected to begin in February 2025, and it is expected to be operational in late 2026.

GreenFire Energy, Inc., a geothermal energy systems developer and PTIM participant, is implementing a letter of intent signed in February 2024 to supply Philippine steel company SteelAsia with geothermal power from GreenFire’s projects in the Philippines.

Astranis, which builds telecommunications satellites, plans to launch a communications satellite in summer 2024. The company’s Philippines-based partner, Orbits Corp, plans to use the satellite to bring digital connectivity to rural and remote sites across the Philippines. Astranis is building, testing, and readying the satellite—named Agila, for the Philippine national bird—for its summer launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

 

INVESTING IN CLEAN ENERGY AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

The United States and the Philippines recognize the need to deepen technology cooperation, advance the clean energy transition, address and mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, and meet the emerging opportunities of the 21st century. The two leaders welcome recent milestones in advancing our clean energy and technology partnership:

 

Supporting Secure and Reliable Networks: The United States, subject to Congressional notification, and Japan, with support from Japanese industry, intend to provide at least $8 million for Open Radio Access Network (RAN) field trials and the Asia Open RAN Academy based in Manila, to enable future commercial deployment and an open, interoperable, secure, reliable, and trusted information communications technology ecosystem in the Philippines. This builds on prior U.S. and Japanese investment of over $9 million for these projects in the Philippines.

Civil-Nuclear Cooperation: In November 2023, our two countries signed a “123” civil-nuclear cooperation agreement, which, once in force, will facilitate U.S.-Philippine civil-nuclear energy cooperation and support climate and clean energy transition goals while securing the Philippine’s energy future. In addition, to support the Philippines civil nuclear sector, the Philippine Department of Energy intends to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Philippine-American Educational Foundation to promote capacity building and workforce development through scholarships and academic exchanges through the Fulbright Program. Under the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) program, the United States and Japan plan to co-host a nuclear energy study tour in Japan for nuclear experts and policy decision-makers from the Philippines and other FIRST partner countries.

Increasing Renewable Energy Capacity: As part of the Philippines’ efforts to address its energy needs, USAID and the Philippines have partnered and launched the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP). The first and second round of auctions held under GEAP resulted in 5,300 megawatts of renewable energy projects that will be developed between 2024 to 2026, increasing the Philippines’ renewable energy capacity by 65 percent. USAID and the U.S. Department of Energy are also working with the Philippines to develop the next phase of competitive renewable energy zones by supporting transmission planning to unlock the Philippines’ tremendous offshore wind potential. In addition, USTDA supported renewable energy activities across the Philippines, including two grants for the Philippines Energy Development Corporation to develop geothermal energy, a grant to Aboitiz Renewables focused on offshore wind power, a grant to the Rural Electrification Finance Corporation for utility-scale solar power plants with energy storage systems, and funding for an upcoming trade mission to the United States focused on advanced grid technologies.

Cyber-Digital Cooperation: The Philippines joined the International Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI), the largest cyber partnership in the world, in April 2024. The CRI builds collective resilience and helps design policy approaches to combat ransomware. The United States and the Philippines plan to hold their first bilateral Cyber-Digital Dialogue in July 2024 in Washington. This dialogue focuses on helping strengthen the Philippines’ resilience against cyber intrusions from state-backed and criminal organizations and advance an open, interoperable, secure, reliable, and trusted information communications technology ecosystem in the Philippines. Supporting this work, USTDA is providing a grant to NOW Telecom Company, Inc., for a feasibility study to help develop a secure nationwide 5G network in the Philippines utilizing equipment from trusted vendors. Also, USAID has established eight community digital networks to expand internet access to remote locations in the Philippines, bringing 1,470 households online for the first time.

U.S.-Philippines Space Dialogue: The United States and the Philippines plan to hold our first bilateral space dialogue in May 2024 to advance cooperation on using space-based technology for disaster management, mapping of resources, pollution monitoring, the use of space for maritime domain awareness, and other areas.

 

EXPANDING DEFENSE AND SECURITY COOPERATION

U.S.-Philippine defense and security ties serve as the cornerstone of our alliance. As the United States and the Philippines work to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the two leaders herald advancements in our cooperation:

EDCA Sites Advancing Mutual Security and Local Investments: Since signing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in 2014, the Department of Defense has allocated $109 million toward infrastructure projects at EDCA sites, including more than $59 million for airfield improvement at Basa Air Base, which will increase interoperability with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and enable Basa to serve as a logistics hub for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and other crisis response. The President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2025 includes an additional $128 million for infrastructure projects. USAID will launch a new initiative in the next year to preposition humanitarian relief commodities at an EDCA site for Philippine civilian disaster response authorities to help provide urgent assistance to the Filipino people if needed in times of crisis. Prepositioning of commodities, combined with strengthened Philippines’ humanitarian assistance and disaster response capacity, including for EDCA-hosting communities, will contribute to greater crisis resilience and more effective crisis response. In partnership with DoD, USAID will also increase civilian-military disaster response trainings to enhance fluency with response systems between Philippine and U.S. civilian and military agencies and international humanitarian organizations. In addition, USAID has several ongoing projects in and around communities hosting EDCA sites, as it does throughout the Philippines, in the areas of health, education, economic growth, and environment.

Bolstering Maritime Cooperative Activities: Over the past year, the United States and the Philippines increased their cooperation in the South China Sea to historic levels, including a complex multilateral maritime cooperative activity between Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States. Additionally, U.S. and Philippine forces conducted their first-ever combined intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission over the South China Sea. Our joint efforts demonstrate resolve, strengthen bilateral security ties, and expand multilateral cooperation and training among likeminded partners.

Implementing Trilateral Coast Guard Exercises: The Philippine Coast Guard hosted coordinated port visits by USCG Cutter Stratton and Japan Coast Guard vessel Akitsushima in Manila in June 2023. Following the port visit and underway preparations, the visiting ships joined Philippine Coast Guard vessels for the first-ever trilateral at-sea coast guard exercise. As part of this first-ever exercise, our three countries held interoperability drills in communications and search and rescue activities. In the coming year, the United States looks forward to welcoming Philippine and Japan Coast Guard members onto a U.S. Coast Guard vessel during a patrol in the Indo-Pacific and our coast guards also plan to conduct an at-sea trilateral exercise and other maritime activities in the Indo-Pacific to improve interoperability and advance maritime security and safety.

Enhancing Coast Guard Cooperation and Training: The U.S. Department of State, Department of Defense, and Coast Guard inaugurated a technical training center for the Philippine Coast Guard Fleet in September 2023. The center has hosted approximately 200 students for various vessel-related training courses since its opening and builds Philippine capacity and capabilities in operating and maintaining its rapidly expanding inventory of vessels deployed throughout the country and in the South China Sea.

 

INVESTING IN PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE TIES

Our two countries benefit from unique, shared bonds of friendship and community, to include the millions of Filipino-Americans who enrich communities across the United States and serve as the bedrock of our relationship. The two leaders are proud of recent achievements in our people-to-people ties:

Investing in the Next Generation of Philippines Leaders: State Department educational and cultural exchange programs provide learning and networking opportunities to emerging Filipino leaders. The Philippines’ Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Network (YSEALI PH) has grown to over 31,000 members, spanning a broad range of Philippine geographic regions and professional areas. This includes increasing numbers of YSEALI affiliated local government leaders, with 80 YSEALI alumni currently serving in local governments nationwide. The YSEALI Academic Fellowship will have 38 participants from the Philippines in 2024, and the Southeast Asia Youth Leadership Program (SEAYLP) will include six participants from the Philippines. Our 9,000 exchange alumni include high-level Philippine leaders, including Vice President Sara Duterte, two sitting senators, and leaders of numerous prominent Philippine institutions from academic institutions to startups.

Higher-Education Partnerships: USAID launched UPSKILL, a five-year activity in February 2024, intended to strengthen higher education institutions in the Philippines, and make them key drivers of growth by improving their innovation, workforce development, and community extension work. UPSKILL creates partnerships between Philippine universities and U.S. universities such as Arizona State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Friends, Partners, Allies Reporting Tour: The United States plans to host an exchange program of ten Filipino journalists for a reporting tour in May 2024. The delegation will visit Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Honolulu to deepen their knowledge of people-to-people ties, economic partnerships, and security cooperation.

Fulbright-Philippine Space Agency Scholarship Program: In support of the Fulbright Philippines program, the Philippine Space Agency provided funding for scholarship and training programs in the fields of space science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in addition to related fields such as space law and policy, business, economics, international relations and diplomacy, and communications. These initial resources are intended to support approximately eight students and scholars to pursue study and research in these fields at educational institutions in the United States.

 

ADVANCING RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR RIGHTS

The United States and the Philippines are committed to our shared values of freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights, labor rights, and the rule of law. These values form the foundation of our bilateral relationship.

U.S.-Philippines Democracy Dialogue: Following through on our commitment from 2023, the United States and the Philippines intend to convene a bilateral Democracy Dialogue in 2024. The Dialogue provides a platform for the United States and the Philippines to institutionalize discussions on human rights and democracy issues, as well as identify initiatives that can be pursued jointly to complement national efforts on the promotion and protection of human rights.

U.S.-Philippines Labor Working Group: Under the U.S.-Philippines Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, the United States and the Philippines created a Labor Working Group to accelerate implementation of internationally recognized labor rights and facilitate dialogue among the Philippine and U.S. governments and labor unions. The Labor Working Group had its first meeting in December 2023 and plans to hold its next meeting in Manila in May 2024.

U.S. Support for the BARMM Peace Process: In March 2024, the U.S. Department of State and the Government of the Philippines launched the Peace Accords Matrix Mindanao program which emphasizes the importance of respecting human rights and seeks to protect the rights of those living in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) by fully implementing the 2014 Peace Agreement. Implemented by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies with the Joint Normalization Committee and the Presidential Advisor on Peace Reconciliation and Unity, the Peace Accords Matrix program will train civil society to monitor and accelerate implementation of the Peace Agreement before the first-ever elections for the BARMM Parliament and the “Exit Agreement,” both scheduled for 2025. ###

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Background Press Call Previewing the Bilateral Meeting of President Biden and President Marcos of the Philippines and the Trilateral Leaders’ Summit

National Security Council / Via Teleconference / (April 10, 2024) 3:05 P.M. EDT

 

MODERATOR: Thank you. And thank you all for joining today’s background call to preview the bilateral meeting of President Biden and President Marcos of the Philippines and the historic trilateral summit of the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines. As a reminder, today’s call is on background, attributed to senior administration officials. The call is also held under embargo until 5:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow. By participating in today’s call, you are also agreeing to these ground rules. On today’s call, we have [senior administration official]. And I will now turn the call over to [senior administration official] to kick us off.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you so much. And thanks to all for joining us this afternoon. I’m also pleased to be joined here in the room by several of my colleagues who’ve been formative to the preparations of both the bilateral meeting between the President and President Marcos and the first-ever trilateral U.S.-Philippines-Japan leaders’ summit that will take place tomorrow. So you may also hear the voices of [senior administration officials] alongside me as we work through what we have to share with you today.

As you all know, we just concluded the meetings portion of the official visit with state dinner, during which the President is hosting Prime Minister Kishida of Japan here at the White House for nearly their dozenth meeting in the last two and a half years since Prime Minister Kishida took office. And at that visit, we announced a number of extremely consequential deliverables, ranging from the defense space to civil space to critical and emerging technologies, critical infrastructure, and people-to-people ties.

But this is really just kicking off what we see as a tremendous week for us and for the President’s Indo-Pacific strategy here at the White House. Because tomorrow we will also be welcoming President Marcos of the Philippines and holding, as I said, the first-ever trilateral leaders’ summit between the Philippines, the United States, and Japan.

 

Since the start of this administration, President Biden has, of course, prioritized the reinvigoration of the United States’ greatest strength: our network of alliances and partnerships. And in our view, there is nowhere that this strategy has yielded more success and bigger results than in the Indo-Pacific.

Today, you saw our Japanese allies consistently standing up and stepping up alongside us to modernize the alliance in ways that would have seemed impossible just three years ago. And tomorrow, you will see another longstanding ally in the Indo-Pacific stepping up in a big way, who is now more closely coordinated than ever with the United States, and that is President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

He’ll be here for the second visit to D.C. in just two years’ time. And this is the seventh meeting with either President Biden or Vice President Harris, which is a sign of the very close relationship that we have built with President Marcos.

Our alliance with the Philippines is the oldest in the Indo-Pacific and has never been stronger, with deep people-to-people ties at its foundation. And that, of course, includes the more than 4 million Filipino Americans who live in the United States and 400,000 Americans who live in or are visiting the Philippines at any given time.

 

Under President Biden and President Marcos, we’ve modernized the alliance to meet emerging opportunities and challenges. And our defense and security ties continue to serve as a cornerstone of that alliance. And in particular, we’ve added four new sites under the Enhanced Cooperation Defense Agreement and provided an additional $100 million in foreign military financing for the Philippines.

We’re also working together in a range of areas from economic growth to energy security to critical and emerging technologies to secure connectivity. And you’ll see all of those areas on display tomorrow.

But beyond the bilateral relationship, we are also excited to launch at the leader level, for the first time, a brand-new format, and that is the trilateral that includes our friends in Japan. That trilateral met for the first time at the national security advisor level last year, and our leaders are now taking it to new heights. And you’ll see there a huge amount of work on display that covers areas ranging from energy security to infrastructure to critical and emerging technologies to maritime security. And we’re excited for all that we’ll be able to share in those spaces.

Amongst the priority of deliverables that we’ll be unveiling tomorrow — which, as Michael noted, are embargoed until 5:00 a.m. in the morning tomorrow — we’ll be announcing an important set of new infrastructure projects known as the PGI Luzon corridor, the first-ever PGI corridor in the Indo-Pacific, which will connect Subic Bay, Clark, Manila, and Batangas in the Philippines to accelerate coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects, including ports, rail, clean energy, semiconductors, supply chains, and other forms of connectivity in the Philippines.

We will be holding events and setting up a steering committee to accelerate the work on this Luzon corridor, and the Development Finance Corporation will open its first regional office in the Philippines as part of this announcement.

Second, we’ll be making announcements in the space of Open Radio Access Network technology, where the U.S. and Japan, both governments and industry, will be providing millions of dollars in funding for O-RAN field trials and the support of an Asia O-RAN Academy in Manila to enable future commercial deployment. And we’re working closely with the government of the Philippines to ensure that we can partner as a trilateral grouping to deploy secure, trusted ICT technology in the Philippines.

 

Earlier this week, you saw an important step in a coordinated Australia-Japan-Philippines-U.S. maritime cooperative activity. We held a joint sail in the South China Sea, of course in a moment where the Philippines is facing enormous pressure from the PRC in that part of the region.

And you’ll see us making further announcements tomorrow with respect to our coast guard cooperation, our cooperation on the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief space, and in our military cooperation and capacity building.

All in all, particularly at this moment when, as I mentioned, President Marcos is coming under pressure from the PRC’s aggressive tactics in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, what you’ll see is a clear demonstration of support and resolve from both President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Marcos, ready to support and work with the Philippines at every turn. I’ll hand to my colleague to say just a bit about what you can expect in the bilateral space from the President’s meeting with Marcos.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks. I’m happy to add a bit on that.

So, President Biden and President Marcos will meet tomorrow. They’ll discuss initiatives to enhance economic and energy security, bolster maritime cooperation, invest in critical infrastructure, and deepen people-to-people ties.

President Biden will also reinforce the ironclad U.S. alliance commitments to the Philippines. And the two leaders will also discuss their shared commitment to democratic values, including respect for human rights and internationally recognized labor rights.

Now, this is the second time that President Marcos has been to the White House in his many years. And the two presidents will mark the unprecedented strength of the alliance between the United States and the Philippines, and underscore the historic achievements in bilateral relations since they last met at the White House in May 2023.

In addition to some of the deliverables that [senior administration official] mentioned, I wanted just to add a few. You’ll see several U.S. companies announcing new investments in the Philippines tomorrow, including areas in undersea cables, logistics, clean energy, and also telecommunications.

You’ll also see some new announcements related to humanitarian assistance and disaster response, specifically located around the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites that [senior administration official] mentioned. Including over the next year, you’ll see USAID in partnership with DOD launching a new initiative to pre-position humanitarian relief commodities for Philippine civilian disaster response authorities at EDCA sites.

In addition, you’ll see us working together to invest in people-to-people ties, and you’ll also see us do more on clean energy and critical infrastructure, especially the new initiative under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment that [senior administration official] mentioned.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: With that, we look forward to taking your questions.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Moderator. I think we’re ready to go into the Q&A portion.

OPERATOR: Let’s go to our first caller. Please go ahead.

MODERATOR: Could you say the name of the person who’s going to ask the question?

OPERATOR: Sure. It’s Michelle Jamrisko from Bloomberg.

Q Hi, everyone. Thanks for doing this. Just wanted to go off something Jake Sullivan said yesterday and we’ve heard from other U.S. officials as well, talking a lot about U.S. efforts to modernize the alliances and bringing in non-traditional allies. So I’m wondering if you see the trilateral tomorrow as a sort of launching board for having other partners across Asia kind of join these sorts of formats. And if so, who would be on that target list?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, Michelle. I’m happy to take that one.

You know, I think we see less that we are necessarily going to continue to expand ad infinitum any given trilat and more that each of these individual partnerships add some very special sauce to the broader mix of what National Security Advisor Sullivan has called an overlapping latticework of mutually reinforcing partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.

So you might think about the fact that, of course, we have a number of strong bilateral alliances like the one you saw on display with Japan today. We’ve got more innovative groupings, like the Quad, which the President and National Security Advisor Sullivan raised to the leader level early in this administration. You’ve got AUKUS, which is a newer innovation also during this administration. And now we’ve got a number of strong trilateral relationships, including the U.S.-ROK-Japan partnership, which the President took to new heights at Camp David, and now this trilat with the Philippines.

So we don’t necessarily see that each one of these partnerships needs to expand further, but rather, each one needs to serve its purpose. And part of what we’re excited about with tomorrow’s visit is that we do think there is a very clear purpose and a very clear agenda guiding this trilat.

 

OPERATOR: Okay, moving on to Trevor Hunnicutt from Reuters.

Q Hey. Thanks so much for taking the question. So will the President give a commitment to Marcos as far as the U.S. being involved in any defense that needs to happen around the Second Thomas Shoal?

And then, out of the outcomes of this meeting, should we expect trilateral joint military training, defense capacity building for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and anything on maritime domain awareness? Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, Trevor. I’ll kick off and pass to [senior administration official].

The President’s commitment to the Philippines and to President Marcos on South China Sea issues has been quite clear. He has repeated many times that the U.S.-Philippines mutual defense treaty applies to the South China Sea, including Philippines’ vessels that may be underway there, including its coast guard vessels.

So I think our declaratory policy, again, is crystal clear and has been consistent throughout this administration and, needless to say, has also held on a bipartisan basis. And the Philippines is confident in that commitment.

When it comes to the maritime activities that you might see coming out of this, I’ll pass to [senior administration official].

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks. Just to add on top of the comments you already made: Over this past weekend, the United States, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia held a joint naval patrol in the Philippines’ EEZ. I think as National Security Advisor Sullivan said yesterday, you can expect to see more of that in the months ahead.

On top of that, we will be announcing tomorrow an upcoming coast guard joint patrol that will be taking place in the coming year in the Indo-Pacific. That builds on the first trilateral U.S.-Japan-Philippines coast guard patrol that was held over the past year. The U.S. Coast Guard will also welcome Philippine and Japan coast guard members onto a U.S. Coast Guard vessel during the patrol in the Indo-Pacific this year to further train and synchronize our work together.

And I think you can expect to see further announcements tomorrow around trilateral maritime training activities, including around Japan, and a trilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercise to take place over the coming year as well.

 

OPERATOR: Okay, moving on to Patsy Widakuswara.

Q Thank you for taking my call. Just to follow up on Trevor’s question: Do we have a clear guideline of which type of gray zone tactics are covered by the U.S.-Philippines mutual defense treaty?

And then, if I may just ask for some clarity on what the President said earlier, where Japan, the U.S., and Australia will create a network of air, missile, and defense system. Do we have a timeline of that initiative? Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m happy to take that one. You know, the U.S.-Philippines mutual defense treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippines Armed Forces, public vessels, or aircraft. And as I mentioned earlier, that includes its coast guard, and that includes anywhere in the South China Sea.

So that’s the text of the treaty that governs our alliance. It is quite similar to the text of other treaties that support U.S. alliances around the world.

And obviously, we continue to coordinate very closely the question of China’s so-called gray zone tactics, its coercive tactics, and what the implications of those might be.

On the question of the air and missile defense integrated networks: As the President mentioned earlier, this is a deliverable out of the Japan state visit which also includes Australia. What we announced today is really a vision for a coordinated network of radars and sensors that will better integrate our ballistic and air defense capabilities around the Indo-Pacific. And it’s probably a few years off that will involve considerable work amongst our three countries. But we don’t have a framework for how we will pursue it, as well as a strong mutual commitment amongst these countries if this is something we want to accomplish together.

OPERATOR: Okay, moving on to Morgan Chalfant from Semafor.

Q Thanks so much for doing this. I just had two questions. First, on the announcements of investments in the Philippines and undersea cables and telecom, can you say which companies are making those? And then also, I was wondering if there’s a specific timeline for the PGII corridor you mentioned.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, on the secure connectivity piece, I think you mentioned a few different projects. The first one you may have mentioned is a submarine cable project, which is an investment that was announced at the Japan state visit today. That involves our Japanese friends plugging into an ongoing sub-cable project that is led by Google in the South Pacific. The United States and Australia are already invested in that project, and we’re very gratified that the Japanese have decided to join us.

When it comes to PGI, you know, we do expect it will take some time for the full suite of investments that we’ve envisioned here to come to pass. But as I mentioned, we’re standing up a steering committee of high-level U.S., Philippines, and Japanese government officials to ensure that we are steering private sector investment to exactly the types of projects that this corridor needs to improve, as well as bringing a full suite of U.S. government tools to bear.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, the U.S. Development Finance Corporation will be standing up an office in the Philippines to help to steer this work. And the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has announced a number of new activities in the Philippines that will help to support it as well.

In addition to all of this, you may be tracking that Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo recently led a presidential trade and investment mission to the Philippines, which announced more than $1 billion in combined investments to promote the Philippines’ innovation economy, clean energy transition, and supply chain resilience.

So, suffice it to say that we take very seriously all of the work that we’re doing in the Philippines. There will also be a number of announcements tomorrow by way of private sector investment in the Philippines that we’ll be announcing anew, and those will come from Meta, UPS, GreenFire Energy, and Astranis telecommunications satellites.

OPERATOR: Okay, moving on to Michael Shear, New York Times.

Q Hi there. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Just wanted to follow up on the so-called gray zone (inaudible) that China has been launching against the Philippine ships. Will that subject — do you intend that subject to come up during the bilateral or trilateral talks tomorrow? And is there anything the United States can do or is planning on suggesting or talking about in order to try to mitigate those attacks, since they appear to be, by default, just below the level of what would trigger the (inaudible)?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thanks, Michael, for your question. So, we absolutely expect the South China Sea to come up in tomorrow’s trilateral meeting. It is one of the reasons for the meeting, because we are very concerned about what we’ve been seeing.

We consistently condemn the use of coercive and unlawful tactics in the South China Sea every time they occur. We do so via public statement and diplomatically. There’s a strong record of U.S. statements on this issue, particularly in the last several months since the Philippines has been under increasing pressure.

You will also see in our trilateral joint statement some very strong language on our unity on the South China Sea. And that language will make very clear that we have a combined position that supports the Philippines’ lawful operations and rights in the South China Sea and in particular in its own exclusive economic zone. So we will be quite unified in that position.

Additionally, you know, many of the deliverables that we started to preview for you here today — whether that’s the recent joint sail that we just conducted on a quadrilateral basis in the South China Sea, the coast guard cooperation we’ll be undertaking, or new military exercises that we may conduct together — these are all intended to boost our cooperative capacity and, in particular, to make sure that our friends in the Philippines have the capacity that they need to be able to uphold international law in the South China Sea.

So this is a very common theme, if not a pillar, of tomorrow’s trilateral meeting. And we’re really looking forward not only to making good progress as a trilat in private, but to announce publicly our next steps in support for the Philippines.

OPERATOR: Our next caller, Phelim Kine, Politico.

Q Good afternoon. Yeah, just a quick follow-up on the Second Thomas Shoal issue, and that is that China is turning a deaf ear to all of the Biden administration’s protests about its behavior there. What we’re seeing is we see the State Department issue kind of like a template press release, saying they should stop this; we have a mutual defense treaty. And Beijing isn’t just responding; they’re actually amping up the pressure on the Philippines in terms of the intensity and the aggression of its response.

So, I guess, two-part question. What are you hearing from China, from Beijing, in terms of why they’re pushing this at the Second Thomas Shoal at a time of a wider, quote, unquote, “stabilization” of the bilateral relationship?

And number two, what exactly can the U.S. do with Japan or with others to kind of make China back down or turn away? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks. I’m not going to interpret the Chinese government’s motivation for its use of coercive tactics at this time. We’ll simply say that all of the international law in this space is very clear that the Philippines is lawfully operating in its own exclusive economic zone, and there’s really no question about that.

To your question about, you know, what can we do beyond continuing to issue statements, I would note, first and foremost, that while, of course, it is very unfortunate that the PRC has continued to use coercive tactics, we do see that every time it does, an increasing number of supporters come out to stand behind international law in the Philippines. I believe that the last time there was an interdiction of a Philippines routine resupply effort, as many as almost two dozen countries came out with both (inaudible) support.

But of course, we raise this diplomatically in private, including at the highest level all the time, including the President raised this with Xi Jinping when they last spoke and not only reiterated our alliance commitments, which are crystal clear, but made clear his concern about PRC actions around Second Thomas Shoal.

But finally, the point that I’ll make — and you asked the question of what more can the U.S. do — the United States can invite President Marcos to the White House tomorrow for a bilateral meeting and a trilateral leaders’ summit for the first time ever. This is very clearly a purposeful signal of support and resolve to Marcos. There will be a lot of discussions, again, that take place on this in private. But this is an invitation to the President — from the President to a close ally that is intended to signal very clearly that we support the Philippines at this difficult moment.

OPERATOR: Our next caller, Ken Moriyasu, Nikkei Asia.

Q Thank you very much. On the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief hub, I believe there was a similar proposal in the factsheet of the U.S.-Japan (inaudible). Are they similar things?

On the Philippines one, I think you said it will be placed on the EDCA sites. Does that mean they’re going to be on all nine bases or just a few of them? And does this also mean that, in the Japanese case, they will be based on U.S. bases in Japan as well? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Sure, thanks. Happy to take that.

I mean, our main point here is that these additional four EDCA sites that we and the Philippines agreed on when President Marcos was here last year really demonstrate the value of U.S. military and Philippine cooperation at these sites and elsewhere.

And the main point of these EDCA sites is to do a few things. One is to help the military modernization of the Philippines, is to increase coordination between our two militaries and increase interoperability, and then it’s also to help facilitate humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

The Philippine government, of course, has done a lot in this area. We’ve been working with them quite extensively over many years. What I had mentioned before is that, over the next year, USAID will be launching a new initiative to pre-position humanitarian relief commodities. I won’t get into which specific sites those will be located, but the intent of those commodities is to assist Philippine civilian disaster response efforts and to ensure that disaster response can get to Philippine citizens when it’s needed most.

OPERATOR: Okay, let’s move on to Tetsuo Shintomi, Kyodo News.

Q Hi. Thank you for taking my question. When the national security advisors of three countries had a meeting last year in Tokyo, they reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. And they also discussed on East China Sea, on North Korea, according to the readout.

So will the three leaders’ discussion go beyond South China Sea? Will they also discuss on Taiwan Strait or even broader region, including East China Sea and DPRK? Thank you very much.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you very much. We fully expect that the three leaders will cover the full gamut of Indo-Pacific security topics, including, of course, South China Sea, East China Sea, peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and the threat posed by the DPRK’s illicit nuclear and missile program.

And one of the things that I think binds this group of leaders together is they are very — have a common outlook as maritime democracies who see much of the challenges in the Indo-Pacific in the same ways.

So one of the strong bonds between them is not only their assessment of the risks that are posed in all four of these situations, but their belief that common cooperation can help to inject stability in all of these areas. So I know that President Biden is looking forward to those conversations.

OPERATOR: All right, and that brings us to the end of our Q&A. I’ll turn it back over to Michael Feldman. Please go ahead.

MODERATOR: Great. Thank you all for joining today. I will just pass it to [senior administration official] for some closing remarks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks so much, Michael. And thanks for a great set of questions.

I’ll just reiterate that while, of course, you know, we are very proud of the work that we have done over the course of the last three years here at the White House and on the Indo-Pacific team, we really do think this week is a special one, in particular coming on the back of a successful U.S.-Japan state visit where we’ve unveiled a number of new alliance initiatives.

The innovation of bringing this trilateral to the leader level for the first time is a significant one. And while a number of your questions today have been related to the maritime space and rightful concerns about the South China Sea, which we deeply share, part of what we’ll also have on display tomorrow is a number of new initiatives related to economic security, demonstrating that, together, the United States, Japan, and the Philippines can deliver energy security, can deliver secure connectivity, can deliver high-quality, high-standard investments that are good for the people of the Indo-Pacific.

So we’re really going to be showcasing a new form of cooperation at the highest levels, and we look forward to being able to share the details with you soon.

Thanks for joining today.

MODERATOR: Great. And thank you all for joining. As a reminder, today’s call is on background, attributed to senior administration officials, and it is under embargo for 5:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow.

Feel free to reach out to the NSC press team if you have any questions. Thank you and have a great day. 3:33 P.M. EDT