An “increasingly severe” security environment has made deepening security ties with the Philippines a necessity, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday after a meeting with his counterpart in Manila.
Speaking as he concluded a two-day visit that included a tour of Philippine air bases, Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani said the two nations hoped to achieve greater operational collaboration.
“[Philippine] Secretary [of National Defense Gilberto] Teodoro Jr and I firmly concurred that the security environment surrounding us is becoming increasingly severe and it is ... necessary to further enhance defense cooperation,” Nakatani said.
Photo: AFP
He said that the nations had agreed to establish “strategic dialogue between high-level operational officers.”
Nakatani’s visit comes on the heels of a foreign ministers’ meeting last month where the Philippines and Japan vowed to strengthen security cooperation to counter China’s actions in key sea trade routes, including the disputed South China Sea.
Teodoro told yesterday’s joint news conference that the two nations shared the “common cause of resisting any unilateral attempt to reshape ... international law by force.”
China has deployed navy and coast guard vessels in a bid to bar the Philippines from strategically important reefs and islands in the South China Sea, leading to a string of confrontations.
The Philippines in December last year said that a China Coast Guard vessel used water cannon and “sideswiped” a government fisheries department vessel, and last week the Philippine Coast Guard said a Chinese navy helicopter came “within 10 feet” (3m) of a surveillance plane carrying journalists over the contested Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島).
Japan is a key financier of Philippine efforts to modernize its South China Sea patrol craft, as well as maritime surveillance systems including radar installations.
Beijing claims the strategic waterway in almost its entirety despite an international tribunal ruling that its claim lacked any legal basis.
Both Tokyo and Manila are allies of the US, which has been strengthening an arc of alliances to deter China’s claims in the Pacific Ocean.
The Philippine Senate late last year ratified a key pact with Japan that would allow them to deploy troops on each other’s soil. The agreement, which now awaits ratification in Tokyo, also allows for increased joint combat drills.
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