Biden offers reassurance to Philippines' Marcos as China tensions flare

The guidelines focus on military coordination across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace, while the US administration will also transfer three C-130 aircraft and look to send additional patrol vessels to the Philippines.

Biden will also reaffirm a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that calls for the United States to act in the event of an armed attack on the Philippine military, the officials said in a briefing call for reporters.

The summit is the centrepiece of a four-day US visit by Marcos that started on Sunday, the first by a Philippine president in more than 10 years.

Marcos became president last year and has sought warm relations with both the United States and China, who are vying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Under Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos' predecessor, US relations soured as he turned the Philippines sharply away from its former colonial ruler and built closer ties with China.

But with many Filipinos frustrated by China's actions in the South China Sea, including the harassing of Philippine ships and fishermen in parts of the sea that both countries claim, popular support has grown for a tougher stance toward Beijing.

Wariness about China has only increased recently.

A reported comment last month by Beijing's ambassador to Manila that the Philippines should not support Taiwan's independence "if you care about the 150,000 overseas foreign workers" of Filipino origin who live there was viewed as a "veiled threat," a US official said.

Reuters