The Philippines has strengthened its defense partnership with Lithuania on Monday to address shared security challenges, especially those concerning the situation in West Philippine Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. held a bilateral meeting on June 30 with the visiting Lithuanian Minister for National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė in Makati City, where they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for enhanced defense cooperation.
“This visit is one of the outcomes of the extra-regional partnerships that smaller countries, in particular like the Philippines and Lithuania, need to build because we see common threats, common challenges, not only of threat actors but also of situational considerations,” Teodoro said.
For her part, Šakalienė said the MOU will elevate defense ties between Manila and Vilnius to a new level. “It’s a framework for meaningful cooperation, and our strategic commitment to the Indo-Pacific is laid out in our new strategy for defense and security engagement in this region,” she said.
Although neither minister explicitly named a country as the “common threat,” both the Philippines and Lithuania have raised concerns over China’s activities in the West Philippine Sea and the Baltic Sea.
In November 2024, a Chinese cargo vessel was linked to the disruption of two submarine telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea. These cables connect Lithuania to Sweden, prompting Lithuanian naval forces to intensify surveillance efforts amid growing fears of hybrid warfare.
Meanwhile, Chinese vessels frequently harass Philippine ships and aircraft in the West Philippine Sea. China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea intrude into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), despite a 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated Beijing’s assertion.
“We see great potential for cooperation with the Philippines in many areas, such as maritime security, including challenges related to shadow fleets by some big countries, our neighbors operating in the South China Sea and Baltic Sea,” Šakalienė said.
