The Philippines-United States-Japan trilateral partnership has made "historic" gains, said outgoing US President Joe Biden in a 25-minute trilateral video phone call with Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday.

“We’ve made historic progress in our trilateral partnership, especially in areas of maritime security, economic security, technology cooperation, and high-quality infrastructure investments,” Biden said.

Also tackled during the meeting was the "People's Republic of China's dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea," according to a brief statement from the White House.

Marcos agreed with Biden that the trilateral partnership helped in pushing for the mutual interest of the three countries.

“I am confident that our three countries will continue to work together closely to sustain the gains that we have made in enhancing and deepening our ties," Marcos said.

Ishiba stressed the importance of expanding upon what Philippines, US, and Japan have agreed during the launch of their trilateral partnership in their summit on April 2024 amid China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Among matters discussed in the summit were economic growth and resilience; Luzon Economic Corridor, development of critical and emerging technologies; climate partnerships and clean energy supply chains; and peace and security.

"Going forward, it is important to deepen trilateral cooperation in a variety of fields,” Ishiba said.

Biden is hopeful the achievements will be continued by Donald Trump, who will replace Biden as US President on January 20.

"I’m optimistic that my successor will also see the value of continuing this partnership, and that it is framed the right way," Biden said. DMS