MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The top defense and foreign affairs officials of Japan and the Philippines will meet in Manila next month to strengthen strategic ties and discuss regional concerns, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday. Growing concerns over China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea.
Details of the agenda for the July 8 meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her Philippine counterpart, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, were not immediately released, but two officials from both countries told The Associated Press that work was underway to finalize a key defense agreement that they hoped would be signed during the meeting.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
During a visit to Manila last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Mutual Access Agreement The agreement allows troops to enter each other’s territory for joint military exercises and increased defence cooperation, part of efforts by the two countries to shore up their alliance in the face of an increasingly assertive Chinese stance in the region.
President Marcos said last year that the proposed defense agreement would be “beneficial to both our defense and military personnel and to maintaining peace and stability in the region.” During his visit to Manila, Foreign Minister Kishida announced that the grant would provide the Philippines with a coastal surveillance radar, making the Philippines the first Southeast Asian country to receive Japan’s newly launched security assistance program for allied militaries in the region.
Foreign Minister Kishida said last year that additional Japanese patrol boats, defense equipment and radars would be provided to bolster the Philippines’ maritime law enforcement capabilities. Japan has supplied the Philippines with more than a dozen patrol boats in recent years, and the Philippines currently uses them primarily to defend its interests in disputed waters.
Japan has been in a long-running territorial dispute with China. East China SeaMeanwhile, Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval vessels South China Seaan important global trade route.
In the worst clash yet, Chinese coast guard personnel in a motorboat armed with knives, spears and axes repeatedly rammed and destroyed two Philippine navy supply ships in the disputed area. Second Thomas Scholl Last week, the Philippine Navy attacked a Chinese coast guard vessel, injuring several Filipino sailors and seizing at least seven Philippine Navy rifles.
The Philippines strongly protested the China Coast Guard’s actions and demanded compensation and the return of the rifles. China accused the Philippines of inciting violence and said the China Coast Guard acted because the Filipino sailors strayed into Chinese waters despite warnings.
Japan, along with the United States and its Asian and Western allies and security partners, has expressed concern over China’s actions.
“Japan reiterates its serious concern over repeated acts that impede freedom of navigation and increase tensions in the region, including the recent dangerous acts that caused damage to the Philippine ship and injuries to Filipino nationals on board,” Tokyo’s foreign ministry said in a statement after the collision.
Washington reiterated its warning that it has an obligation to defend the Philippines, Asia’s oldest treaty ally, if Philippine troops, ships or aircraft come under armed attack in the South China Sea or elsewhere.
President Marcos and other Philippine officials have said last week’s Chinese attack on Philippine sailors was “unlawful” and “deliberate” but did not amount to an armed attack that would trigger a 1951 mutual defense treaty with the United States. The attack was captured on video and photographs released by the Manila government.
