MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Japan’s prime minister boarded a Philippine patrol ship on Saturday in a symbolic present of help as Tokyo shores up regional alliances to counter China’s assertiveness in maritime disputes with its neighbors.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s go to to the Japanese-built BRP Teresa Magbanua, which was docked on the Manila harbor, capped his two-day go to to Manila. He held talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday to strengthen protection ties amid their nations’ shared concern over China’s conduct.
“I actually hope that this may result in regional peace and prosperity in addition to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Keshida instructed prime Philippine authorities and coast guard officers aboard the Magbanua, one of many two greatest patrol ships of Manila’s underfunded coast guard.
Japan has offered a dozen patrol ships to the Philippines lately, together with the 97-meter (318-foot) -long Magbanua. Manila’s coast guard largely makes use of the ships for sovereignty patrols and to move provides and rotating navy and marine personnel to 9 Philippines-occupied island, islets and reefs within the strategic South China Sea.
That has put the Philippine ships on a collision course with China’s large coast guard and navy fleets within the South China Sea, which China claims nearly in its entirety. Except for China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan additionally lay declare to elements of or the complete sea passage, a key world commerce route.
The Philippines has strongly protested the Chinese language coast guard’s use of blinding laser mild and water cannon in separate incidents this yr and its blockade that led to 2 minor collisions final month close to the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.
In August, because the Magbanua tried to method the shoal, which has been surrounded for years by China’s vessels, its crew noticed a Chinese language coast guard ship maneuver into blocking place with its 70 mm armament uncovered, in accordance with the Philippine coast guard.
Of their talks on Friday in Manila, Kishida and Marcos agreed to begin negotiations for a key protection pact known as the Reciprocal Entry Settlement that will enable their troops to enter one another’s territory for joint navy workouts.
The Japanese premier additionally introduced that coastal surveillance radars could be offered to the Philippine navy beneath a brand new safety grant program that goals to assist strengthen the militaries of pleasant nations..
Japan has had a longstanding territorial dispute with China over islands within the East China Sea.
Within the first-ever speech by a Japanese premier earlier than a joint session of the Philippine Congress on Saturday, Kishida pledged to proceed serving to bolster the aptitude of the Philippine navy and maritime businesses.
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