Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is traveling to the Philippines on Tuesday seeking to further boost an alliance in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
Ishiba will meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in Manila on Tuesday at the start of his two-day visit. Their talks are expected to focus on China’s aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea and East China Sea, a reaffirmation of their commitment to a three-way alliance with the United States, and the barrage of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, officials said.
Japanese and Philippine officials are expected to start negotiations this year on two defense pacts, including a proposed defense logistical agreement that would allow the provision of food, fuel and other necessities when Japanese forces visit the Philippines for joint training under a major defense accord that was signed last year and is expected to be ratified by the Japanese legislature.
Another proposed agreement involves the security of highly confidential defense and military information the countries could share. Talks on this agreement are also expected to start this year, according to Japanese and Philippine officials.
“In the South China Sea and East China Sea, China has made unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force,” Ishiba said in a news conference in Tokyo over the weekend before embarking on a trip to Vietnam and the Philippines. “I intend to further strengthen our cooperation with regard to security.”
Chinese coast guard and navy ships, along with suspected militia vessels, have been accused of separately ramming and blocking and using powerful water cannons against Philippine and Vietnamese ships in the disputed South China Sea in recent years.
China claims virtually the entire waterway, where it has bolstered its coast guard and navy presence and built artificial island bases to fortify its claims. Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs.
In the East China Sea, China has routinely sent coast guard vessels and planes into waters and airspace surrounding islands that are claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing to harass Japanese vessels. That has prompted Japan at times to scramble jets in response.
The U.S. has repeatedly warned China over its escalating acts of aggression in the disputed waters against Japan and the Philippines, which are among Washington’s staunchest treaty allies in Asia.
However, Trump’s tariff impositions on Japan and the Philippines, among other countries worldwide, have sparked an awkward dilemma among the close security allies.
"The U.S. tariff measures have dealt a major blow to the economies of both Vietnam and the Philippines. In addition, there have been major impacts on Japanese companies expanding into these countries,” said Ishiba, who was scheduled to meet Japanese company executives in the Philippines to hear their concerns.
"Those comments will serve us well as we craft Japan’s policies in response to the tariffs imposed by President Trump,” Ishiba said ahead of his trip.
After visiting a Japanese war memorial in Laguna province, south of Manila, on Wednesday, the Japanese leader is scheduled to board in Manila the BRP Magbanua, one of the two largest patrol ships built by Japan for the Philippine coast guard.
The Magbanua has figured in increasingly hostile faceoffs with the Chinese coast guard in the South China Sea and was damaged in one tense encounter last year in the disputed Sabina Shoal. The countries accused each other then of instigating the high seas confrontation.
Japan has supplied a dozen patrol ships in recent years to the Philippines, which is using them largely to defend its territorial interest in the South China Sea. Japan plans to build at least five more patrol ships for the Philippines. It has also provided radars and other defense equipment for the Philippine military.
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16 Comments
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Peter14
Chinese aggression continues pushing nations together to counter their harmful and unfriendly acts in other nations territories and in international waterways plus air spaces.
China wants and claims territory it is not entitled to and which is never going to be recognized internationally by more than perhaps a handful of nations.
China trying to take from others then says, please work with us "hand in hand" against US tariffs. I think China stealing territory is worse than short term tariffs that will definitely end when the next US president is elected. Likely to be Democrat with Trumps very low approval ratings which will no doubt continue to sink lower the longer he remains in office killing any chance of a Republican being elected.
Rivera
Where are all the people who commented about China with Japan awhile back????
OssanAmerica
The more China shakes it's rattle, the more nations in the region come together to counter it.
Since we see no sign of China easing up, I don't expect to see any easing up of neighboring nations forming security alliances.
Rivera
Be careful what you ask for people
HopeSpringsEternal
PM Ishiba needs to step up Defense spending from paltry 1.8% of GDP for latest fiscal year, placing Japan 10th in global military spending, behind far smaller countries like France, England, Germany, Saudi Arabia etc. who don't live next door to aggressive China!
Pukey2
Pure theater for the folks in the Philippines and back home. And for the bosses in USA.
Sure, go ahead. More money for MIC, less for the Japanese tax-payers. All because USA's warmongering has gone through the roof. Again.
HopeSpringsEternal
If the free world wants peace, deterrence must be $backed up with tangible military capabilities, not continued under-investment which only fuels aggression
grc
Pwter14 - by ‘China’ do you mean ‘the US’?
isabelle
Great to see Ishiba calling out China directly for its brazen aggression.
Sometimes, countries put out anodyne statements like "parties should work to reduce tensions," but here Ishiba is correctly naming China as the aggressor.
The UNCLOS tribunal was crystal clear: there is zero legal basis for China's claim.
JT's usual pro-CCP suspects will cry that China didn't participate "so the ruling doesn't count," but they are wrong: China has ratified UNCLOS and is bound by the ruling. The CCP ran scared of the tribunal as it knew it would lose.
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Sea_Arbitration#Award
China's claims to historic rights, or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction, with respect to the maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the 'nine-dash line' are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China's maritime entitlements under the Convention. The Convention superseded any historic rights or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction in excess of the limits imposed therein.
Alessio
It is surprising to see how many people are obsessed by China activities, true or false, instead of focusing on the over 750 US military bases present in the Asian continent.
Only few days ago U.S. forces deployed anti-ship missiles in the Philippines and staged live-fire drills near China hotspots. And nobody raised an eyebrow. Talk about hypocrisy and double standards here.
OssanAmerica
Maybe that's because US bases exist only by invitation and agreement with the host country.
Whereas China's territorial expansion is unilateral and at odds with other countries.
BTW, it's true.
quercetum
Ishiba, it’s the economy. You really don’t have the leverage to go against China.
Toyoda is building a $2 billion plant near Shanghai. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made his second visit to Beijing in three months. You had better fight for the market share for chips in China.
Japan has plateaued out for 30 years and you’re worried about some Philippine coral reefs.
quercetum
Japan is de facto occupied not by choice. That’s called giving Japan face which is important like the Gentleman’s Agreement in early 30th century.
The U.S. would never give up Okinawa so easily. They sacrificed lives and want to get something out of it.
isabelle
It is unsurprising that people comment on China's activities, since China is Japan's, and the region's number one security threat.
China's aggression is provably true, well-documented, and ongoing.
The US military is not illegally occupying land with its bases, and it is not ramming and water cannoning lawfully-operating ships, and attacking their crews. That would be China, and that's why people comment.
Absolutely unconnected to China's aggression.
As usual, the CCP supporters try to play down Chinese aggression, and steer the conversation to other subjects. Again, unsurprising.
isabelle
Japan is not occupied, no matter how many times the CCP posters try to spin the lie. Please stop posting falsehoods.
The US forces are here legally, by agreement with the Japanese government, which is duly elected by the people (unlike your CCP).
The Japanese government can ask the US to close the bases at any time and it will, just as it did in the Philippines in 1991. However, it will certainly keep them until the CCP falls and the China threat disappears.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bases_in_the_Philippines#Closure_and_turnover
The US returned Okinawa to Japan in 1972.
kaimycahl
Chinese BOTS have nationalistic views anything you say they will look the other way and point fingers at the other person when simple logic says they are wrong. Their thinking is whats wrong is the right way of doing settling things without thinking or negotiating they have no clue of following rules.