Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a key defense pact, allowing the deployment of Japanese forces for joint drills in the Southeast Asian nation that came under brutal Japanese occupation in World War II, but is now building an alliance with Tokyo as both face an increasingly assertive China.
The Reciprocal Access Agreement, which similarly allows Filipino forces to enter Japan for joint combat training, was signed by Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa in a Manila ceremony witnessed by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
It would take effect after ratification by the countries’ legislatures, Philippine and Japanese officials said.
Photo: AP
Kamikawa called the signing of the defense agreement “a groundbreaking achievement” that should further boost defense cooperation between the countries.
The Japanese and Philippine officials “expressed serious concern over the dangerous and escalatory actions by China” in Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙), the scene of a recent confrontation between Chinese and Philippine forces in the South China Sea.
They underscored in a joint statement the need “for the international community to speak out on the importance of maintaining and strengthening the free and open international order based on the rule of law” in the disputed waters.
There was no immediate comment by Chinese officials.
The defense pact with the Philippines, which includes live-fire drills, is the first to be forged by Japan in Asia. Japan signed similar accords with Australia in 2022 and with Britain last year.
Under Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the nation has taken steps to boost its security and defensive firepower, including a counterstrike capability that breaks from the country’s postwar principle of focusing only on self-defense. It is doubling defense spending in a five-year period to 2027 in a move to bolster its military power and make Japan the world’s third-biggest military spender after the US and China.
Many of Japan’s Asian neighbors, including the Philippines, came under Japanese aggression until its defeat in World War II, and Tokyo’s efforts to strengthen its military role and spending could be a sensitive issue. However, Japan and the Philippines have steadily deepened defense and security ties.
Kishida’s moves dovetail with Marcos’ effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea. The busy sea passage is a key global trade route which has been claimed virtually in its entirety by China, but also contested in part by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
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