Throughout a go to to Manila, Japan’s vice minister for protection renewed Tokyo’s dedication to serving to the Philippines modernize its navy, because the Southeast Asian nation faces territorial threats, Filipino officers stated Tuesday.
Tsuyohito Iwamoto met with Jose Faustino, the Philippines’ appearing protection secretary, at Camp Aguinaldo on Monday after talks with different key Philippine protection and navy officers, based on the Philippine Division of Nationwide Protection.
Beijing was not particularly talked about, however the Philippines, together with different nations within the area, is locked in a bitter territorial dispute with China within the South China Sea. Japan, for its half, is locked in a separate dispute with China within the East China Sea, notably over the Senkaku Islands.
“The 2 officers mentioned general Philippines-Japan protection relations and regional safety issues,” the division stated in a press release, including that each officers “reaffirmed that respect for worldwide legislation and a rules-based order is crucial in sustaining peace and stability within the area, notably within the South China Sea and East China Sea.”
Arsenio Andolong, a spokesman for the division, stated Iwamoto talked about Japan’s ongoing efforts to help the Philippines.
“Japan has expressed its willingness to proceed providing us gear and a few applied sciences. They wish to assist us with our necessities for our modernization,” Andolong stated with out giving extra particulars as a result of he was not approved to take action.
Over the previous a number of years, Japan has donated coach plane, spare elements for Huey helicopters and search-and-rescue gear to the Filipino armed forces.
Andolong stated Faustino and Iwamoto additionally mentioned protection relations in addition to regional safety issues.
Throughout their assembly, Faustino and Iwamoto recalled the profitable April two-plus-two Overseas and Protection Ministerial Assembly the nations held in Tokyo, Andolong stated.
Iwamoto described that assembly as a “manifestation of the 2 nations’ rising bilateral strategic partnership,” based on Andolong.
At Camp Aguinaldo, Iwamoto additionally met with Armed Forces chief Gen. Andres Centino the place they mentioned “bilateral engagements anchored on current protection cooperation agreements,” based on the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Centino thanked Japan for its involvement within the Air Surveillance Radar System Acquisition Mission beneath the navy’s modernization program. The 5.5 billion pesos ($98 million) contract, signed in August 2020, was awarded to the Japanese agency Mitsubishi Electrical Corp.
The protection division stated the radar was to cowl the Philippine Rise to the east of the nation, the southern area the place Islamic State-linked militants function, in addition to the “the Southern portion of the West Philippine Sea,” Manila’s identify for its claimed territories within the South China Sea.
The radar is anticipated to assist increase Manila’s airspace monitoring, plane management in addition to assist the air power carry out its air protection mission. Specifically, it should “assist detect, establish and correlate any threats and intrusions throughout the Philippine financial zone and ship radar photographs” to working models, the division stated.
The system is anticipated to be delivered later this yr, based on a Philippine media report.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated on-line information service.
