Marcos ready to meet Trump immediately - envoy

President Marcos is keen to meet his US counterpart in Washington and is ready to go immediately when US President Donald Trump is available, Manila's Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said yesterday, adding such a meeting could happen in spring.

- — Reuters, AFP

Washington has yet to announce whether a meeting between Marcos and Trump is being worked out.

Romualdez reiterated that existing defense arrangements between the two security allies would remain in place.

The ambassador said he was "confident" the two countries' military ties would remain strong under the Trump administration, while also acknowledging the unraveling of the US-Ukraine relationship.

China and the Philippines have been involved in increasingly tense confrontations over reefs and waters in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims in almost its entirety despite a Hague ruling that its assertion has no basis.

Romualdez said he believed that US backing in the disputed waterway and military assistance would continue, pointing to a $336-million exemption granted amid a freeze on foreign spending.