Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and new Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed Wednesday the two nations will closely cooperate to maintain and reinforce rules-based maritime order amid China's rise in the Indo-Pacific. Hayashi told an online news conference after a meeting in Manila with Marcos, who took office the same day, that the two countries will also bolster bilateral ties and aim to resume active people-to-people exchanges toward economic recovery in a post-coronavirus pandemic era. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites. If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this support page.