Japan, Philippines to spice up army ties amid ‘extreme’ setting – INA NEWS

Japan and the Philippines have agreed to spice up army cooperation amid mutual concern over China’s rising assertiveness within the area.

Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani and Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr mentioned on Monday they’d agreed to ascertain a “strategic dialogue” between their international locations’ militaries and a “high-level framework” for defence tools and know-how cooperation.

Talking at a information convention to mark the conclusion of a two-day go to to the Philippines, Nakatani mentioned he and Teodoro agreed on the necessity to improve cooperation to “preserve peace and stability” within the area.

“We firmly concurred that the safety setting surrounding us is turning into more and more extreme and that it’s crucial for our two international locations, as strategic companions, to additional improve defence cooperation and collaboration in an effort to preserve peace and stability within the Indo-Pacific underneath such a scenario,” Nakatani advised reporters.

Earlier than the assembly on Monday, Teodoro mentioned the 2 international locations shared the frequent reason for opposing “unilateral makes an attempt by China and different international locations to alter the worldwide order and the narrative”.

Japan and the Philippines, which have mutual defence treaties with the USA, have been among the many most vocal critics of Beijing’s efforts to exert management over the South China Sea, which is estimated to hold about one-third of worldwide delivery.

China has laid declare to greater than 90 p.c of the waterway, the place the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing territorial claims.

A 2016 ruling by a world tribunal at The Hague discovered that Beijing had no authorized justification for its claims and that it had violated worldwide legislation by harming the pure setting and interfering with Philippine fishing and oil exploration.

Beijing mentioned on the time it didn’t “settle for or recognise” the ruling, calling it “invalid”.

Final week, the Philippine Presidential Workplace for Maritime Issues accused the Chinese language navy of endangering lives after it flew a helicopter inside 3 metres (10 toes) of a surveillance airplane carrying journalists over the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

China’s army accused Manila of “hyping and smearing” lawful actions after the Philippine plane had “illegally intruded” into Chinese language airspace.