PH eyes defense pact with Japan

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. (INQUIRER / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)

Amid the growing aggression of China in the South China Sea, the Department of National Defense is hopeful that a defense pact with Japan, similar to the country’s visiting forces agreement (VFA) with the United States and Australia, will be signed before the end of the year.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the “reciprocal access agreement” (RAA) is still being reviewed by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“But we want to fast-track it because the Senate is also waiting for it,” he told reporters in Taguig City.

Once signed by the two countries, the RAA between Japan and the Philippines will have to be ratified by the Senate since it is a treaty, Teodoro explained.

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Teodoro said the signing of the agreement was being delayed by “some issues they need clarity on, but I think it’s going to be resolved already.”

“I am no longer seeing a problem,” he said of the signing of the RAA, which could happen “hopefully within this year.”

An RAA is a bilateral defense and security pact between Japan and other governments that provides shared military training and military operations. It establishes procedures between two countries for the cooperative activities conducted by the defense force of one country while visiting the other country and defines the status of the visiting force.

Japan currently has RAAs with the United Kingdom, Australia and France.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier committed to support the ratification of the RAA.