The Philippines, the US and Japan have committed to ensure the status quo in the Indo-Pacific region as leaders of the three countries held a brief meeting in Jakarta to discuss current developments in the South and East China Seas.
At the gala dinner hosted by Indonesia during the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, President Marcos, US Vice President Kamala Harris and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took the chance to talk about the situation in the waters.
The discussion allowed the three leaders to review ways to “enhance trilateral maritime cooperation, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts,” the White House said in its readout.
According to the Foreign Ministry of Japan, Marcos, Harris and Kishida concurred "to jointly tackle unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force."
Although there was no mention of China in the readouts, the Philippines, US and Japan recently launched a week-long trilateral naval drills off the Philippine waters to deter China’s aggression in the South China Sea.
Japan, through its ambassador to the Philippines, also expressed the need to boost its military alliance with the Philippines and the US to realize its “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” dream.
The informal talk among Marcos, Harris and Kishida was held as China continued its harassment of Philippine personnel in the West Philippine Sea, which is connected to the greater South China Sea, and its incursion into the country’s territories.
Japan and the US are the Philippines' allies in upholding rules-based order in the region. The two countries support Manila’s claim over the West Philippine Sea, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Award.
During the recent talk, Harris "underscored the importance of the adherence to international law, and US opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo in the South China Sea and East China Sea," the White House said.
Prior to this, Marcos and Harris also had a brief one-on-one talk on the same concern.
Marcos, Harris and Kishida also "reaffirmed the strength of trilateral economic cooperation and discussed opportunities to bolster economic resilience, promote broad-based and sustainable economic growth, and invest in strong and diversified supply chains," the White House said.
Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines welcomed the talk among the leaders and noted that "solidarity among three countries is much stronger than before with shared objectives in promoting rule-based regional order."