SINGAPORE — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that he is only working for the interests of his own countries and not those of China and the United States.

Marcos said this in his bilateral meeting with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte on the sidelines of his working trip here in Singapore before returning home to Manila.

“I don’t work for Beijing, I don’t work for Washington, I don’t work for Moscow. I work for Manila. I work for the Philippines and that’s what I need to promote,” Marcos told the Lithuanian PM. 

Each leader took a stand as they told their friends about the problems they were having. When it comes to the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines and China are at war with each other. The same is true for Lithuania and Russia.

Hence, both leaders agreed to uphold international rules-based order in the pursuit of peace and security. 

“And the only way that we can navigate through all of these is to find ourself, plant ourself very clearly within international law, and within the rules-based order, within the agreements that most nations are made, with one another when it comes to the resolution of these kind of differences,” Marcos said.

Marcos stressed the principles remain the same and that the Philippines promote what is based in international law and rules-based order.

Marcos said the world has changed in a way that “you can no longer isolate” the effects of war in Russia and around the world.

But the effects are very well felt, President Marcos said, “It’s almost impossible but now it is now regional issues, they eventually impact the unexpected places which are very, very far away.”

Šimonyte, in response, said she fully supported President Marcos’ statement. 

“Absolutely. I think that, you know, small states matter. That will be my message tomorrow on the panel but not only small states matter, international law matter because this is a safety network for small states,” she said. 

Among the topics the two leaders were scheduled to talk about during their meeting were political cooperation, economic cooperation, regional and global issues, including the Indo-Pacific region.