Japan’s Role in Philippine Counterterrorism Efforts

Japan announced an outstanding plan in early 2023 to help bolster defence and security in like-minded countries to counter-terrorism in the region. The Philippines was high on its list. Tokyo’s Official Security Assistance program is anticipated to provide Manila with radar and satellite communications to maintain maritime security, including supporting its primary routes in the disputed South China Sea. The report came on the heels of Japan’s $4.3 billion pledge of development assistance and private investment in the Philippines.

Only months later, Japan, the Philippines and the United States partook in trilateral exercises for the first time. The inaugural Coast Guard exercises brought more than 500 personnel to waters off the Philippines’ Bataan region to rehearse anti-terrorism, counterpiracy, and search and rescue operations.

The milestones observed a deepening defence engagement between Manila and Tokyo, promoted by the U.S. and built upon decades of economic cooperation and cultural exchange. The Philippines has been at the vanguard of Japan’s decadeslong drive to improve security ties in Southeast Asia, wrote Felix Chang, a senior associate at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Common security challenges make the partnership a natural reaction for both archipelagic nations, which have “experienced a steady advancement in security pressure from Beijing,” Chang wrote. “For the Philippines, that has been displayed in Chinese maritime intimidation, opportunistic occupation of Mischief Reef, and blocking of Scarborough Shoal near the disputed Spratly Islands,” he noted. “China declared an East China Sea air-defence identification area near Japan and harassed Japanese vessels around the disputed Senkaku Islands.”

Japan and the Philippines are treaty partners with the U.S. The nations also neighbour Taiwan, where the People’s Republic of China persists to step up military pressure amid repeated threats to annex the democratically controlled island by force. Such a crisis would not only threaten Japan and the Philippines but, given the significance of the Taiwan Strait to commercial shipping worldwide, would also put trillions of dollars in international economic activity at risk.

In February 2023, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. settled their defence forces would cooperate on disaster relief processes in the Philippines, Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun said. The arrangement was seen as a move toward an agreement that would allow each nation’s forces to instruct in the other’s territory. Negotiations for a Reciprocal Access Agreement began in 2022 to enhance interoperability, according to news reports.

A more expansive deal, equivalent to a Visiting Forces Agreement, could also be forthcoming. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo stated during an August 2023 congressional hearing on strains in the South China Sea that Manila is brokering such a deal with a critical partner “near China,” the Asia Times website reported. It would permit the nations to broaden joint military exercises and security equipment exchanges and could lead to joint operations during contingencies.

“Japan is a partner, and with ongoing territorial disputes over our waters, we stand to benefit from more robust security cooperation with our allies,” Philippine Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri expressed in early 2023, according to Asia Times.

During an August conference with the chief of Japan’s Komeito political party, Marcos highlighted the demand for bilateral security cooperation in “preserving the stability and allowing the free conduct of trade and shipping in the South China Sea,” according to the news website.

He also highlighted a commitment to trilateral cooperation among Japan, the Philippines and the U.S., which analysts state is central to expanding deterrence across the Indo-Pacific and particularly in challenged waterways such as the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

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