https://arab.news/vm3vs
- Japan becomes the Philippines’ first comprehensive strategic partner
- They also agreed to start negotiations on transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers
MANILA: The Philippines and Japan have upgraded bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and agreed to start talks toward an intelligence-sharing agreement, marking new milestones amid shared concerns over rising tensions in the South China Sea.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made the announcements at a joint press conference in Tokyo late on Thursday, following a meeting that coincided with the 70th anniversary of Philippine-Japan diplomatic relations.
“I am pleased to announce that we have elevated our relationship from a strengthened strategic partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This milestone reflects the strength, depth, and breadth of our ties as we respond to the evolving challenges and opportunities of our time,” Marcos said.
The ties upgrade refers to the highest-tier of diplomatic framework, which means cooperation on a broader range of areas, not just on strategic priorities. It is the Philippines’ first with any country.
“The Philippines and Japan are neighbors across the sea who share the basic values and principles. Cooperation with the Philippines, one of the closest like-minded countries for Japan, is extremely important in realizing the updated, free, and open Indo-Pacific,” Takaichi said.
Their newly upgraded ties “demonstrates the determination of our two countries to strengthen multilayered relationships as like-minded countries, sustainably going forward without being affected by the changes in the international environment,” she added.
Both leaders also agreed to begin talks toward a military intelligence-sharing pact, which Marcos described as “important steps to further strengthen our defense cooperation and to uphold a rules-based maritime order,” as well as to enhance mutual trust between the two countries.
Furthermore, the two countries are pursuing negotiations on the transfer of multiple Abukuma-class destroyers, which are designed for coastal defense and anti-submarine warfare, “in order to respond to the regional strategic environment” that is “growing more severe,” Takaichi said.
The agreements come toward the end of Marcos’ four-day state visit to Japan, during which he also held meetings with Japanese Emperor Akihito and Japan’s National Diet.
The two Asian nations are deepening security ties at a time when Beijing has become increasingly more assertive in the region.
During their meeting, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Marcos and Takaichi also “expressed serious concern over the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and reaffirmed their strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the peacefully established status quo by force or coercion.”
Japan has a longstanding territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea, while Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy ships have been involved in a series of tense incidents in the South China Sea in recent years.
The Philippines, China and several other countries have overlapping claims in the disputed South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which billions of dollars’ worth of goods pass each year.
Beijing has maintained its expansive claims of the area, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that China’s historical assertion to it had no basis.
Closer relations with Japan are “very important” in the face of escalating issues in the South China Sea, said Froilan Calilung, political science professor at the University of Santo Tomas.
“To have Japan as one of our primary economic and political allies right now, I think this will send a strong message to Beijing that we are already somewhat a force that they cannot just simply set aside,” he told Arab News.
“And that our allegiance and our alliance with powerful countries like Japan is something that we could bank on … This will somehow balance out the presence and the influence of China, not only in our domestic affairs, but more importantly in the Asia Pacific.”
The Philippines has been strengthening defense ties with Japan in recent years, including through a landmark military pact signed in 2024, which allows the deployment of their forces on each other’s soil for joint military drills. It was Japan’s first such pact in Asia.