President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. sees that the trilateral cooperation agreement by the Philippines, the United States, and Japan will change the dynamic in the region and the South China Sea.

In a press conference a day after meeting with President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Marcos stressed that the trilateral agreement is “extremely important.”

“It is going to change the dynamic, the dynamic that we see in the region, in ASEAN in Asia, around the South China Sea,” Marcos said.

In his separate meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III at the Pentagon, Marcos expressed optimism that the trilateral deals would “translate into sustained peace and stability” in the SCS.

“This visit here to the Pentagon reaffirms once again the strength of the relationship between the United States and the Philippines in the face of all the threats and challenges that we have had to face together,” Marcos told Austin.

Marcos assured China it was not a target by the new partnerships entered into by the Philippines, US, and Japan.

“I view the new agreements and the new partnerships, and alliances that we have forged including the trilateral agreement, not as a response to any particular challenge or threat but merely a continuing development and evolution of the relationship that we have been fostering over a hundred years,” he said.

Marcos expressed hope that the Philippines and the US would continue working together.

“And I can only see that our two countries getting closer and working together, and in closer coordination so as to be able to provide continuing defense of international law and international rule of–in the UNCLOS especially in the differing claims that we are having to deal with in the South China Sea,” he said.

In response, Austin assured Marcos of the US' continuous support to the Philippines.

“We’re sending our help in any way we can because as what I often said, we’re more than allies, we’re a family,” said Austin.

“This whole cooperation is critical to our collective security and continued prosperity across the region,” he added.

The first-ever trilateral summit of the three nations aims to enhance the economic and maritime cooperation of the Philippines, Japan, and the US amid threats to the international rules-based order.