MANILA, Philippines, 3 Nov (AP) \u2014 Japan\u2019s prime minister began a two-day visit on Friday to the Philippines, where he\u2019s expected to announce a security aid package and upcoming negotiations for a defense pact in a bid to boost Tokyo\u2019s alliances in the face of China\u2019s alarming assertiveness in the region.<\/p>\n
After a red-carpet welcome at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was set to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on bolstering overall relations, primarily defense ties. China\u2019s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea will be high in the agenda, Philippine officials said.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, China\u2019s ships separately blocked then hit a Philippine coast guard vessel and a supply boat near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Japan immediately expressed its strong support to the Philippines and the United States renewed its warning that it\u2019s obligated to defend its treaty ally if Filipino forces come under an armed attack in the contested waters.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Kishida will become the first Japanese premier to address a joint session of the Philippine congress, underlining how the Asian nations\u2019 ties have transformed since Japan\u2019s brutal occupation of the Philippines in World War II.<\/p>\n
Kishida said in a departure speech in Japan that he would outline Japan\u2019s diplomatic policy for Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to confirm our pursuit toward a world where the free and open international order based on the rule of law is maintained and human dignity is protected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s scheduled to visit a Japanese-funded Manila subway project Saturday and board one of a dozen Japanese-built coast guard patrol ships, which the Philippines now largely uses to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea, before leaving for Malaysia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to the address of a leader of a nation that is a robust trading partner, a strong security ally, a lending hand during calamities and an investor in Philippine progress,\u201d Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said.<\/p>\n
Kishida\u2019s government unveiled plans in December to build up its security and defense \u2014 including counterstrike capability \u2014 in a major shift from the country\u2019s self-defense-only principle adopted after the last world war.<\/p>\n
Under the new strategy, Japan will utilize its huge development aid to support efforts by poorer nations like the Philippines to strengthen their security capabilities and improve safety at sea as China flexes its military muscle in the region.<\/p>\n
Kishida also aims to foster three-way security ties involving his country, the United States and the Philippines, Japanese officials said.<\/p>\n
Those objectives dovetail with Marcos Jr.’s thrust to strengthen his country\u2019s external defense after a series of tense confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval ships in the disputed South China Sea.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden has also been strengthening an arc of alliances in the region to better counter China\u2019s assertiveness.<\/p>\n
A highlight of Kishida\u2019s visit would be the launch of a Japanese security assistance for friendly militaries in the region \u2014 with the Philippines as the first recipient, a Japanese official said without elaborating ahead of Kishida\u2019s visit to Manila. The official spoke at a briefing on condition of anonymity set by the foreign ministry. The new security aid would likely be used to provide Japanese-made non-lethal equipment like radars, antennas, small patrol boats or infrastructure improvements, rather than advanced weapons.<\/p>\n
Kishida and Marcos are also expected to announce an agreement to start negotiations for a defense pact called Reciprocal Access Agreement, the Japanese official said.<\/p>\n
Such a defense agreement would allow Japanese and Philippine troop deployments to one another for military exercises and other security activities that could serve as a deterrent to aggression in the region, including joint patrols in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA, Philippines, 3 Nov (AP) \u2014 Japan\u2019s prime minister began a two-day visit on Friday to the Philippines, where he\u2019s expected to announce a security aid package and upcoming negotiations for a defense pact in a bid to boost Tokyo\u2019s alliances in the face of China\u2019s alarming assertiveness in the region. After a red-carpet welcome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-227739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}