PH, Japan eye own VFA

 

TOKYO—President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said he wanted to start talks toward signing an agreement allowing Japanese troops to visit the Philippines and join a wide range of operations as reports came that a Chinese warship fired flares on a Filipino fishing boat near a reclaimed reef in the disputed South China Sea.

READ: China allegedly fired flares at PH boat in West PH Sea–report

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, a member of President Aquino’s entourage on a four-day state visit to Japan, informed journalists in Manila about the Chinese action by text message on Friday.

“If indeed it happened, it is a cause of grave concern,” Gazmin said, indicating that the Philippine government had yet to verify the reports.

The incident reportedly happened near Mabini Reef (Johnson South Reef) in the Spratly archipelago on the night of May 30.

Speaking to Inquirer.net by telephone on Friday, Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon, quoting the fishing boat’s operator, Pasi Abdulfatah, said the Chinese vessel fired flares as the Philippine boat moved close to Mabini Reef.

“They were about 4 kilometers from the reef,” Bito-onon said.

“It was like a warning to go away,” he said.

Bito-onon said the Filipino fishermen, who had sailed from Balabac Island in Palawan province, steered toward Vietnam-occupied Rurok Island (Sin Cowe) and continued fishing after the Chinese warning.

Besides the Philippines and China, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim Mabini Reef.

China is reclaiming land around reefs in the Spratlys and driving away its weaker rivals’ vessels from the area believed to be home to vast oil and gas reserves.

VFA talks

In a meeting with Japanese journalists, President Aquino said the Philippines was ready to start talks with Japan on Japanese military troops, aircraft and naval vessels to use Philippine bases to refuel and resupply, in a bid to advance mutual defense relations amid aggressive efforts by China to project its military might across the Asia-Pacific region.

Closing his state visit to Japan, which has highlighted the warm relationship between Manila and Tokyo, Mr. Aquino spoke about a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Japan similar to security accords with the United States and Australia and signaling a possible expanded Japanese troop presence in the South China Sea.

A VFA with Japan would allow refueling and other legal needs for Japanese troops while in the Philippines, Mr. Aquino said.

Mr. Aquino and his Japanese host, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, signed a strategic partnership deal on Thursday, agreeing to launch talks to sell Japanese military hardware to the Philippines and to bolster exercises and operations between their militaries.

To be discussed by officials of both countries is the sale by Japan to the Philippines of P-3C antisubmarine reconnaissance aircraft and radar technology.

Also on Thursday, the Philippines and Japan signed a deal confirming the supply of 10 patrol vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard so Manila could step up patrols around islands within its territory in the South China Sea.

The signing of the Tokyo declaration came as Japan continued the debate on the reinterpretation of its pacifist postwar Constitution, which bars the operation of a full-fledged Japanese military and the use of force in case of international disputes. Currently, Japan is limited to maintaining a Self-Defense Force.

Abe wants to expand Japan’s military role abroad, and has been concluding partnerships with a number of countries, including Australia, to complement Tokyo’s cornerstone alliance with the United States.

Japan hosts American troops under its bilateral security treaty but has no other such visiting troop arrangements, except for a few countries when Japan joined UN-led peacekeeping efforts.

PH-Japan deal

The strategic partnership agreement between the Philippines and Japan focuses on defense and security cooperation, but also includes Japanese economic assistance.

It comes as the Philippines and the United States have protested China’s massive land reclamation to build artificial islands around reefs claimed by the Philippines and other claimants to territory in the South China Sea.

China claims nearly all of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by, besides the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Japan is also locked in a territorial dispute with China over ownership of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

Japan has the muscle to stand up to China, but the Philippines, which has never been involved in an arms race, looks to its mutual defense treaty ally, the United States, and now Japan to modernize its military both in equipment and capabilities.

VFA with Japan

“It was discussed yesterday during our summit meeting with the prime minister that the relevant entities will start discussions, leading up to a Visiting Forces Agreement,” President Aquino said, answering questions from members of the Japan National Press Club.

“Now, the Visiting Forces Agreement will have to be passed and approved by our Senate, and we will be starting discussions on all of the details embodied in this. Currently, the Philippines has only two Visiting Forces Agreements—one with the United States of America, and we most recently passed the one with Australia. We welcome this development,” Mr. Aquino said.

Foreign military presence is a sensitive issue in the Philippines. In 1992, the Philippine Senate evicted US bases from the country in keeping with the Constitution, which prohibits foreign troops and nuclear weapons on Philippine soil.

But with China gobbling up Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea—part of the South China Sea within Manila’s 370-km exclusive economic zone—the Philippines last year signed an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) with the United States to allow the visit of more US troops and give them access to Philippine military bases.

Joint defense operations

Japan is only the second strategic partner of the Philippines after the United States. President Aquino said this level of cooperation required the ability of the Philippines and Japan to jointly undertake defense operations.

“As I have stated previously, it does not behoove a good partnership or relationship if you are not able to work at the interoperability with the other. Agreements even for humanitarian concerns that exist only in paper will not be effective when there comes a time that you would need to be in coordination … or joint cooperation with your strategic partner,” Mr. Aquino said.

The President also welcomed Japan’s growing security engagement, saying “the Philippines does not view [this development] with any concern.”

“Japan is an ally and partner to many nations, and Japan should be able to cooperate in the fullest and most effective way to promote and protect peace. Countries of goodwill can only benefit if the Japanese government is empowered to assist others, and is allowed to come to the aid of those in need, especially in the area of collective self-defense,” Mr. Aquino said.

China island-building

Mr. Aquino reiterated the Philippines’ right to assert its sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea, slamming China’s land reclamation around reefs in the Spratly archipelago and echoing statements Abe made at a joint news conference after their summit talks on Thursday.

The President said China’s activities undermined the Philippines’ efforts to settle the territorial dispute peacefully through arbitration proceedings in the United Nations.

“We are particularly gravely concerned by the land reclamation activities being undertaken in the West Philippine Sea. These activities prejudice and undermine the arbitration that the Philippines has initiated to settle the dispute in a manner compatible with international law,” Mr. Aquino said.

“It raises the specter of increasing militarization and threatens peace and stability in the region,” Mr. Aquino said. With reports from Frances Mangosing, Inquirer.net; AP, AFP

Originally posted: 5:59 PM | Friday, June 5th, 2015