American President Joe Biden will meet his Filipino counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Thursday, according to a report in Bloomberg. Marcos is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
What happened: At their first meeting, the two leaders will seek to rebuild the longstanding alliance between the countries, which has been eroded in recent years, a person with knowledge of the publication’s plans said.
This is also the first meeting between the leaders of both countries since the former US President donald trump met Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, 2017 in Manila.
Why it matters: Marcos, whose views are in stark contrast to his predecessor Duterte, wants to keep the US as a partner and seeks its support in a crisis.
Duterte had visited China in the early days of his presidency and announced a “breakaway” from the US, weakening ties between the two countries.
Marcos also followed suit shortly after his election victory in May when he called Xi Jinping the country’s “strongest partner” in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and said the government is open to talks with Beijing over oil exploration in the disputed area.
However, the Philippines recently intensified the protests against it Beijing over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile at the UN General AssemblyMarcos called for climate finance from industrialized nations.
“The impacts of climate change are uneven and reflect a historical injustice,” he said. “This injustice must be corrected and those who need to do more must act now,” he added.
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