THE leaders of Japan and the Philippines have pledged to deepen their security ties, including increased intelligence sharing, as they grapple with territorial disputes with China.
On his first visit to the Philippines since assuming office in October, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday that the two countries oppose “attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea by force or coercion”.
Speaking after talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Manila, Ishiba said the two leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a defence pact formally known as the Acquisition and Cross-servicing Agreement.
The deal would allow the provision of food, fuel and other necessities when Japanese forces visit the Philippines for joint training under a major defence accord that was signed last year and is expected to be ratified by the Japanese legislature. The Philippine Senate ratified it in December.
Ishiba said he and Marcos “also confirmed the start of government-to-government talks towards sealing a security of information agreement in the future”.
The Philippine president added that Tokyo’s previous security assistance had “allowed our security agencies and especially the Department of National Defence to achieve meaningful upgrades” and praised a “golden age” in their relations.
The talks in Manila were held as both Japan and the Philippines have faced increased tensions with China.
Chinese-Philippine ties have been tested repeatedly by confrontations involving the two nations’ coastguard vessels in the disputed South China Sea.
Japan has its own dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, which are claimed by Beijing but administered by Tokyo.
The Philippines and China are also at loggerheads over a disputed sandbank in the South China Sea.
On Monday, Beijing accused six Filipinos of illegally landing on the Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side. Beijing said the action “violated China’s territorial sovereignty”.
Their shared grievances over China’s territorial claims have seen Japan and the Philippines draw increasingly close to each other as well as towards the United States.
Late last year, Marcos and former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Washington for a trilateral summit with then-US President Joe Biden.
Ishiba said he and Marcos had “affirmed the importance of Japan-US-Philippines cooperation” during Tuesday’s meeting.