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SEOUL, South Korea — Japan and the Philippines signed a bilateral security deal Monday as part of a growing net of relationships involving U.S. allied democracies across and beyond the Indo-Pacific region.
The deal is expected to accelerate defense ties between the two nations, which have clashed in maritime territorial disputes with China in recent years.
The Reciprocal Access Agreement, designed to promote the smooth bilateral transfer of manpower, equipment and arms, was signed in Manila. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. watched as Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Philippine Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro officially approved the deal.
Ms. Kamikawa hailed the agreement as “a landmark achievement,” and Mr. Teodoro called it a “milestone in our shared endeavor to ensure a rules-based international order.”
After the signing, the nations’ defense and foreign ministers held a “two-plus-two” meeting at the presidential palace.
With U.S. missions stretching forces worldwide while China builds up massive naval power in the region, the Biden administration has sought to expand defense partnerships among East Asia’s democracies, which lack any overarching NATO-style multilateral alliance.
Washington expressed approval of the deal.
“Another layer in the latticework of Indo-Pacific security partnerships,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel wrote on the social media site X. “Coming on the heels of Japan’s provision of coast guard ships to the Philippines, the historical reciprocal access agreement just signed between two of our allies not only boosts their cooperation and capabilities but also reinforces our collective deterrence and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Long-pacifist Japan, home base to 54,000 U.S. troops, America’s largest single overseas deployment, is emerging as a linchpin for security partnerships for the states across the region facing increasing pressure from Beijing.
Japan is suspicious of China, amicable toward Taiwan and deeply concerned about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The country’s military is muscling up, notably in the naval sphere with marines and light carriers and in the skies with the largest non-U.S. order of F-35 stealth fighters and an ongoing force of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The Philippines and China have clashed violently over territorial claims in the South China Sea, and Japan is facing a similar hybrid challenge from China in the East China Sea. Manila is struggling to control the encroachment of Chinese fishing fleets and coast guard units off a hotly disputed shoal, and Japan is seeing a similar pattern in the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
The Philippines has visiting troop agreements with Australia and the United States, and, like Japan, it has a mutual defense treaty with Washington.
The reciprocal access agreement is Japan’s third such deal. After extensive negotiations, Tokyo’s first deal was signed with Canberra in 2022. Tokyo used that benchmark as a framework for another mutual access accord with Britain in 2023 and is in talks for a similar deal with French defense officials.
A reciprocal access agreement is a mutual defense treaty designed to enable the smooth transfer of manpower, equipment and weapons between the states, enabling personnel, vessel and unit exchanges and exercises.
In the decades since World War II, Japan has been loath to export military arms and other defense products. The Philippines is the first recipient of Tokyo’s defense aid package and is receiving coast guard vessels and offshore radars.
Backed by a government loan, Japanese contractors are building five more 318-foot coast guard vessels for the Philippines, which has faced recent attacks from China’s large coast guard.
Analysts say the U.S. Navy, despite a powerful presence in the region, is not well suited to respond to Beijing’s hybrid tactics short of open war. Analysts told a congressional hearing last month that the U.S. Coast Guard has that kind of expertise but lacks the manpower, equipment and reach to patrol the East Asian theater.
“The USCG’s primary focus and missions are much closer to U.S. territory than the Western Pacific and competition with China,” said Drew Thompson, a former U.S. defense official who is now a research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. “They are not designed to be a symmetrical force to confront China.”
Japan and the Philippines signed the deal a day before NATO was to kick off its summit in Washington. The leaders of Japan, New Zealand and South Korea will attend, but Australia’s prime minister declined his invitation.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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