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.
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.
