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Friday, March 29, 2024

US: Blinken, Marcos to meet Aug. 6

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Washington—US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel next week to the Philippines to meet new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with Washington expecting a close alliance despite rights concerns.

Blinken will meet Marcos in Manila on August 6 as part of efforts “to strengthen the US-Philippines alliance” including on energy and trade, the State Department said.

They will also discuss “our shared democratic values,” a statement said.

Blinken will head to the Philippines after attending talks of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.
Marcos—the son of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.—quickly received a congratulatory call from President Joe Biden after he won the May 9 elections.

The United States has a treaty alliance with the Philippines and has backed its former colony in increasingly heated disputes in the South China Sea with Beijing.

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US relations rebounded with Manila toward the end of the tenure of Marcos’ predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who waged a brutal war on drugs that rights groups say left tens of thousands dead.

Then-US President Barack Obama raised concerns about human rights in 2016, leading Duterte to attack Obama publicly with profanity, but Duterte enjoyed unstinting support from Obama’s successor Donald Trump.

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