Trilateral Summit Between The United States, Japan And The Philippines

The first of its kind trilateral summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines took place at Washington DC on April 11, 2024, with the purpose of deepening the economic and security cooperation between the three countries. This meeting was hosted by the US amidst the growing tensions between the Philippines and China around the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

In late March this year, two China Coast Guard vessels used high-pressure water cannons on a Philippines resupply vessel en route to Second Thomas Shoal, severely damaging the ship and injuring two Filipino sailors.

 

The statement however, which has drawn the most attention of policy analysts all over has been US President Biden’s statement ,“The United States’ commitments to the defense of Japan and the Philippines remain ‘ironclad’, and any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty." The three countries agreed on a flurry of defense, security and economic initiatives, including joint naval patrols, increased coast guard cooperation and large infrastructure projects.

 

Towards contributing to the maritime capacity building of the Philippines, Japan and the US have agreed to the establishment of a trilateral maritime dialogue to enhance coordination and collective responses to promote maritime cooperation. The US has also invited the Filipino and Japanese coast guard members to join an US coast guard during a trilateral patrol in the Indo-Pacific. Additionally Tokyo and Manila are slated to conclude the signing of the Reciprocal Access Agreement by the end of the year.