Philippines, Germany agree to broaden defense agreement

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro (R) shakes hands with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius after their joint press conference at a hotel in Manila on August 4, 2024. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Germany have agreed to deepen military cooperation, their defense ministers said on Sunday, as Manila pushes back after a series of confrontations with China.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro met in Manila and pledged to sign a defense cooperation agreement by the end of the year.

Teodoro said the agreement would focus on “mutual understanding regarding capabilities, training [and] exchange of information.”

There have been escalating confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

“We collaborate because we have a shared vision of respect for the United Nations Charter… and our desire to see a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific,” Teodoro told a joint news conference with Pistorius in the Philippine capital.

They vowed to build “long-lasting relations” between their armed forces and flagged the possibility of Germany supplying military equipment to the Philippines.

Manila has been seeking to boost defense ties in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond in the face of China’s increasing confidence in asserting its claims over the South China Sea.

Pistorius is the first German defense minister to visit the Philippines.

Germany is one of the Philippines’ oldest formal defense partners through a 1974 administrative agreement that includes the training of Filipino troops in Germany.

Pistorius said security and stability between their respective regions were interconnected and hoped the agreement would be signed “before the end of the year, maybe already in October.”

“The ministers strongly opposed any unilateral attempt to advance expansive claims, especially through force or coercion,” Pistorius and Teodoro said in a joint statement.

Pistorius told reporters that Germany’s engagements in the region “are not directed against anybody”.

He is expected to meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Monday, the last day of his three-day visit.