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Tokyo and Manila have discussed the deployment of Japanese forces in the Philippines, as the countries are close to an agreement on several security pacts aimed at strengthening regional deterrence against China.
Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to the United States, said the governments in Manila and Tokyo were close to signing a “reciprocal access agreement” that would also allow their militaries to train and exercise in each other’s countries.
Romualdez said the two countries had discussed deploying troops on a rotational basis, an arrangement similar to one under which the United States maintains military forces in the Philippines despite the country’s constitutional ban on permanent deployments.
“This is something we have already discussed in the past and we will continue to consider it again as part of our cooperation between our countries,” Romualdez said.
News of the discussions will send a strong message to China about how the United States and its allies are increasingly concerned about its military activity in the region, both around Taiwan and in other areas of the South China Sea.
Romualdez spoke on Wednesday ahead of a historic US-Japan-Philippines trilateral meeting that US President Joe Biden will host next week with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The ambassador said Manila “is considering all aspects of our relationship with Japan and certainly this is one of them.” He expects the two countries to conclude the RAA agreement soon after the trilateral summit, which will be held on April 12 in Washington.
Marcos will also hold a bilateral meeting with Biden the day after the U.S. and Japanese leaders’ summit that will include a high-profile state dinner at the White House.
The deployment of Japanese troops to Southeast Asia would mark a major development for Tokyo and Manila, which have significantly strengthened cooperation with the United States to counter China.
Christopher Johnstone, a Japan expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said: “If it comes to fruition, the presence of Japanese forces in the Philippines would send two powerful messages to China: that a regional and multilateral security architecture is is forming in response to Beijing’s revisionist behavior; and that Japan has become an accepted security provider in Southeast Asia. Both developments would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.”
Over the past two years, Japan has significantly strengthened its defensive posture, dramatically increasing defense spending and purchasing U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range capable of hitting targets in China.
The Financial Times recently reported that Biden and Kishida would reveal next week the biggest improvement to the US-Japan military alliance in more than six decades.
The United States has expressed growing concern over aggressive Chinese activity targeting Philippine vessels at the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the South China Sea that has again become a dangerous flashpoint in recent months.
Washington and Manila have both strongly criticized China for dangerous activities – including targeting ships with water cannons – intended to make it harder for the Philippines to resupply troops based on a ship known as the Sierra Madre that has remained on the reef for 25 years.
Any attack on the ship, which was deliberately abandoned on the disputed reef in 1999, could trigger the mutual defense treaty between the United States and the Philippines.
Several people familiar with discussions within the Biden administration said officials are increasingly concerned that an incident on the reef could trigger a broader confrontation.
Speaking ahead of Biden’s call with Xi Jinping, China’s president, on Tuesday, a senior U.S. official said the administration was increasingly concerned that Chinese activity around the Second Thomas Shoal “could bring us closer to unintended consequences.”
Romualdez said the United States, the Philippines and Japan are also close to reaching an agreement that will lead their navies to engage in joint patrols in the South China Sea. He said they were finalizing details, including how often the patrols would be conducted and where they would be conducted.
The ambassador added that the United States and the Philippines are also “very close” to reaching a military intelligence-sharing agreement known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement. “I hope that if it doesn’t happen during this summit, it happens soon after,” he said.
The Chinese Embassy in the United States said: “China always believes that inter-state exchanges and cooperation should be conducive to strengthening mutual understanding and trust among countries in the region and safeguarding regional peace and stability, rather than target or undermine the conflict. interests of third parties”.
The Japanese government declined to comment.