Japan, Philippines pledge to deepen security ties as China tensions simmer

As they battle territorial disputes with China, the leaders of Japan and the Philippines have pledged to strengthen their security ties, including sharing more intelligence.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated on Tuesday that the two nations are opposed to “attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea by force or coercion” in his first visit to the Philippines since taking office in October.

Ishiba said the leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a defense pact, known as the Acquisition and Cross-servicing Agreement, after speaking with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila.

Under a significant defense agreement signed last year and anticipated to be ratified by the Japanese legislature, the agreement would allow the Japanese forces to travel to the Philippines for joint training. It was approved by the Philippine Senate in December.

Ishiba claimed that he and Marcos “also confirmed the start of government-to-government discussions aimed at achieving a security of information agreement in the future.”

The president of the Philippines praised a “golden age” in their relations, adding that Tokyo’s prior security assistance had “allowed our security agencies, and especially the Department of National Defence to achieve meaningful upgrades.”

Given that both Japan and the Philippines are currently experiencing increased tensions with China, the discussions in Manila took place.

Conflicts involving the two countries’ coastguard vessels in the disputed South China Sea have repeatedly put Chinese-Philippine ties on the line.

The Diaoyu and Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing claims but which Tokyo administers, are at the center of a separate dispute between Japan and China.

A disputed sandbank in the South China Sea is also the subject of a dispute between China and the Philippines.

Despite receiving “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side on Monday, Beijing accused six Filipinos of illegally landing on Sandy Cay, also known as the Tiexian Reef. Beijing claimed that the attack “violated China’s territorial sovereignty.”

Japan and the Philippines have grown increasingly close to one another as well as the United States as a result of their shared grievances over China’s territorial claims.

Marcos and former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met in Washington late last year for a trilateral meeting with Joe Biden, the president of the time.

Ishiba claimed at the meeting on Tuesday that he and Marcos “affirmed the significance of cooperation between Japan and the US and Philippines.”

The Japanese premier claimed that the two men discussed the effects of US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz on the economic front.