The Philippines and Japan yesterday agreed to negotiate an intelligence sharing agreement.
Visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also said they would upgrade their ties to bolster security and economic cooperation.
“At today’s meeting, regarding national security, we agreed to begin formal negotiations on the General Security of Military Information Agreement,” Takaichi told a news conference following talks with Marcos.
Photo: EPA
Japan already has such an agreement with its partners the US, Australia and South Korea to protect shared military secrets.
Takaichi said she had agreed with Marcos to “elevate our bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership.”
“This reflects our shared determination to continue strengthening our ties as like-minded nations ... that will continue even in the changing international environment,” she said.
Marcos hailed “very important steps to further strengthen our defense cooperation and to uphold a rules-based maritime order.”
The two countries’ shared grievances over Chinese maritime territorial claims have seen them draw increasingly close in the past few years, with Tokyo supplying coast guard ships and radar systems.
Tokyo and Manila have also signed a reciprocal access deal allowing for the deployment of troops on each other’s territory, and this month Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said he was aiming for the “early transfer” of Abukuma-class destroyers to the Philippines.
Before his meeting with Takaichi, Marcos addressed the Japanese parliament, saying that Manila and Tokyo “are committed to strengthening maritime security, and ensuring that our seas remain open, secure and governed by rules, not by force.”
His visit comes just weeks after Tokyo eased decades-old arms export rules in a major policy shift.
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