US, China ready to work with next PH leader

MANILA – The leaders of the United States and China have expressed readiness to work with presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who they congratulated for winning in the May 9 polls.

In a press readout, the White House said US President Joe Biden congratulated Marcos in a phone call on May 11 (US time) and spoke of his plan to further strengthen the US-Philippines alliance and expand cooperation on areas of mutual interests.

“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines to congratulate him on his election,” the White House said.

“President Biden underscored that he looks forward to working with the President-elect to continue strengthening the U.S.-Philippine Alliance, while expanding bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues, including the fight against COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, promoting broad-based economic growth, and respect for human rights,” it added.

Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, meanwhile, relayed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s message to the presumptive president.

“I had the honor to convey the congratulatory messages from Chinese President Xi Jinping to President-elect Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. and from Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan to Vice-President-elect Sara Duterte respectively,” he said.

Also extending greetings to Duterte, Huang said he was optimistic that the Philippine-China relations would “become stronger” in the next administration.

“With their vision for the Philippines and wisdom to navigate through different obstacles, I am confident that a Philippines under the next administration will surely demonstrate unprecedented unity to rise above all challenges, to recover from the pandemic and to prosper,” he said in a separate statement.

“We look forward to working the next Philippine government to upgrade our Relationship of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation to new height and bring more tangible benefits to the peoples of our two countries,” he added.

The proclamation of the new president and vice president will be made by Congress, which is tasked to canvass the vote for the two executive positions. Upon proclamation, the incoming president will be known as the president-elect of the Philippines.

Marcos has secured double the votes of his rival Vice President Leni Robredo in the recently held elections.

According to the Commission on Elections’ transparency server, Marcos garnered 31.1 million while Robredo got 14.8 million votes based on the 98.35 percent of election returns processed as of May 12.