Marcos-Biden meet to boost bilateral ties --- By Agence France-Presse

UNITED STATES President Joe Biden will welcome Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the White House on May 1 in a sign of a warming bond between the two nations amid US tensions with China over Taiwan. Biden will reaffirm Washington's "ironclad commitment to the defense of the Philippines, and the leaders will discuss efforts to strengthen the long-standing US-Philippines alliance," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. The White House announcement comes a week after the largest-ever joint US-Philippine Balikatan military exercises in the disputed South China Sea in the face of China's growing assertiveness in the region, particularly over Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own. Last week, the US secretaries of Defense and State met with their Philippine counterparts in Washington in a high-level summit, days after the US gained greater military access in the Philippines. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned of "a troubling increase in coercion and dangerous operational behavior" in the South China Sea, an apparent reference to a three-day Chinese military exercise that simulated a blockage and targeted strikes against Taiwan.

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