Marcos: Potential talks with Japan about maritime defense may improve ties

President Bongbong Marcos and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. File photos from AFP/Reuters

TOKYO, Japan — Potential discussions about defense, particularly maritime security, between the Philippines and Japan will be a new element in the relationship of the two countries, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday.

Marcos in an ambush interview with reporters while en route to Tokyo said that he thinks Japan wants to develop its ties with the country by putting security discussions on the table, noting that dealings with the long-time ally have delved mostly on economic agreements.

The President, who will be in Japan from February 8 to 12, is expected to have a meeting with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio where deals involving infrastructure development and defense will be signed.

“Well these things are on-going and I think that the… I’m sure that Japan wants to develop more and make even more robust and closer our relationship especially in that regard,” Marcos said.

“But that’s a new area because ang dealings natin with Japan have always been the G-to-G [government-to-government] JICA [Japan International Cooperation Agency] aid, grant-level, and of course on the commercial side.  So this is a new element to our relationship because we are now talking about security of the region,” he added.

READ: Bongbong Marcos arrives in Japan for five-day official visit 

Marcos said defense cooperation is not a bad thing since stability in the region is a mutual desire of both countries.

“So being, of course, all interested in the same thing — security in the region — I think cooperation is not a bad thing,” he noted.

Marcos was also asked about the possibility of Japan extending further support to the Philippine Coast Guard, and the proposed creation of a visiting forces agreement (VFA) with Japan — like the one that the Philippines has with the United States.

While he is open to the idea, Marcos clarified that no formal talks have started about this topic.

“Siguro sa kanilang palagay [In what they believe] the next step is to do the improvements, the rehabilitation sa Subic para sa [for the] Coast Guard because naturally the reason behind all these is they would like to have more patrols along the up and down [of] South China Sea, para naman we can assure that the freedom of passage [will be maintained],” he said.

“So the VFA-equivalent, hindi pa talaga namin napapag-usapan formally ‘yan [We haven’t talked about it formally].  I don’t know if the Prime Minister will take it up with me in this trip, but so far, there have not been any formal proposals,” he added.

The VFA with Japan is an old proposal, dating back to before the term of Marcos’ predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte.  Talks have bogged down, however, as both countries focused on the COVID-19 pandemic that struck the world in 2020.

Last November, several Senators led by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said that a VFA would be beneficial to the Philippines since Japan is also a close ally of the United States.

The United States, under the Mutual Defense Treaty, is expected to come to the Philippines’ aid if the latter suffers an unprovoked attack.

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