Tokyo hopes pact inked during Manila talks
Japan and the Philippines will hold high-level defense talks next month, with both parties keen on signing a Reciprocal Access Agreement that is quite similar to Manila’s Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States and would allow the countries to deploy troops on each other’s territory.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa will discuss “bilateral and defense and security issues affecting the region” in the face of an increasingly confrontational China at the July 8 meeting in Manila, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
Ex-defense minister Itsunori Onodera, now a ruling-party member of the Japanese parliament, said Friday he hoped negotiations on the defense pact would “make rapid progress” at next month’s meeting.
Onodera met with National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo to reiterate Japan’s commitment to a strategic defense partnership with the Philippines.
“During the discussion with the Ministers and also the National Security Advisor, we believed that concluding the RAA is a very important step because the RAA is the most effective for either having a further collaboration with the Philippines, and to expedite the training with the Philippines as well,” Onodera said in press conference on the last day of a five-day visit to Manila.
“In the next month, the 8th of July, we will have 2+2 meetings. At that time, I hope the RAA will be ratified (signed),” he added.
The 2+2 talks follow escalating confrontations at sea between Chinese and Philippine ships as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to nearly all of the South China Sea.
Tokyo and Beijing are also at loggerheads over Japan-controlled disputed islands in the East China Sea.
“We recognize the need to further deepen security and defence cooperation between our two countries,” Onodera said.
“Japan is committed, ready to provide necessary assets to the Philippines to protect Philippine security,” added Yoshiaki Wada, another member of Onodera’s parliamentary delegation.
Tokyo has been building the newest and largest ships of the Philippine Coast Guard, a key element of Manila’s efforts to assert its sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea.
Tokyo’s Maritime Self-Defense Force likewise held joint naval and air drills with the United States, Australia and the Philippines in the South China Sea in April.
Onodera said Japan was “very concerned” by China’s behavior during the latest confrontation between Manila and Beijing off Ayungin Shoal.
A Filipino sailor lost a thumb on June 17 when Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply a garrison on BRP Sierra Madre, a derelict warship deliberately grounded on the shoal to assert Manila’s claim there.
“We oppose any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force, or any action that will escalate tension,” Onodera said.
As this developed, the Department of National Defense hosted the 9th Joint Defense Working Committee meeting between the Philippines and Brunei last week.
DND Undersecretary Angelito De Leon said the meeting gave added impetus to the implementation of the 2001 defense cooperation pact between the two countries.
With Rex Espiritu
