Biden promises support for Philippines amid tension with China

President Joe Biden hosted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House on Monday. The leaders discussed the Chinese navy’s increasingly frequent harassment of Philippine military and fishing vessels in the South China Sea. Biden said the United States would uphold the Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1951, which states that each nation will defend the other in the event of an armed attack.

What is the U.S. military presence like in the Philippines? The Philippines granted the American military access to four more bases within its borders in February. U.S. personnel already had access to five bases. The two countries completed their largest joint war drills ever last week and on Monday held their first joint fighter training since 1990.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about Biden’s foreign policy regarding China.