(UPDATE) US President Joe Biden will hold a three-way summit with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida next month, the White House said Monday, as the United States boosts its alliances against China.

Marcos on Tuesday said his visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with Biden and Kishida would be an opportunity for the Philippines to strengthen further its already "very strong foundation" with the two allies. He added that the country's ties with the United States were "something we attach very great importance to."

US President Joe Biden. AFP Photo

His visit in April will be Marcos' fourth to the US since he became president. The last time was in November, when he joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in San Francisco, California.

Biden's meeting with Marcos and Kishida at the White House on April 11 is the latest in a series of meetings with Asia-Pacific allies.

It also comes against a backdrop of clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, where the countries have contested maritime claims.

"The leaders will advance a trilateral partnership built on deep historical ties of friendship," including a "shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

The three leaders will also discuss trilateral cooperation to promote inclusive economic growth and emerging technologies, advance clean energy supply chains and climate cooperation, and to further peace and security in the Indo-Pacific and around the world, Jean-Pierre added.

Biden will later hold a separate meeting with Marcos to "reaffirm the ironclad alliance" with the Philippines, she said.

Kishida will be at the White House for a state visit the day before, which had already been announced.

Japan believes the talks will boost a "free and open international order based on the rules of law," chief government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

"With the Japan-US alliance as the linchpin, we believe that deepening cooperation with like-minded countries like the Philippines in a wide range of areas will be essential to maintaining the peace and prosperity of this region," he told reporters.

The US is redoubling efforts to improve longstanding ties with regional allies such as Tokyo and Manila in an effort to counterbalance an increasingly aggressive China.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo on Tuesday met with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who dropped by Manila ahead of Marcos' trip to Washington.

"In three weeks, President Marcos Jr. will be going to Washington for a trilateral leaders' meeting," Manalo said during a joint press conference with Blinken. "Our leaders intend to capitalize on the complementarities between existing Philippine-US and Philippine-Japan bilateral cooperation, notably in infrastructure, critical minerals, energy, and maritime security."

Beijing recently accused Washington of using the Philippines as a "pawn" in the dispute over the South China Sea.

Japan and the Philippines, meanwhile, said during a visit by Kishida in November that they would begin negotiations for a defense pact that would allow them to deploy troops on each other's territory.

Japan invaded and occupied the Philippines during World War 2, but the two countries have since grown closer due to trade and investment and, more recently, to counter China's assertiveness in the region.

Biden has also increasingly turned to the three-way summit format to build US alliances.

In August, he hosted Kishida and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol at his Camp David presidential retreat in a bid to bring the two US allies closer after years of tensions.

Biden held a landmark summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California in November in a bid to prevent conflict between the two superpowers but relations remain tense.

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