Key Defense Pact: The defence ministers of France and the Philippines pledged on Saturday to work towards a pact that would let them send soldiers to each other’s territory. This is the latest accord that the strategically positioned archipelagic nation in the South China Sea has sought.
Gilbert Teodoro, the defence secretary for the Philippines, and Sebastien Lecornu, the defence secretary for France, announced after their meeting in Manila that they had decided to seek permission from their respective presidents and necessary authorities to begin discussions for a visiting forces agreement.
“We intend to take concrete steps into levelling up and making more comprehensive our defence cooperation principally by working to get authorities’ authorization…to begin negotiations for a visiting forces agreement,” Teodoro stated.
Similar agreements have previously been made by the Philippines with Australia and the United States, and it has decided to begin negotiations for one with Japan.
defence cooperation, primarily by seeking approval from the relevant authorities to start talks on a visiting forces agreement, Teodoro stated.
The Philippines has consented to begin negotiations for a similar agreement with Japan, and it already has one with the United States and Australia.
Key Defense Pact
In light of China’s growing confidence in reiterating its claims to the South China Sea, Manila has been working to strengthen defence partnerships throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
The accords establish the legal foundation for nations to deploy defence personnel to one another’s country for purposes of training and other activities.
“We agreed to work on shared values, shared cooperation, not only in the South China Sea but also in the greater Pacific area where France also has a presence and which we want to further defence cooperation and presence with the other Oceanic nations,” Teodoro stated.
Lecornu declared that the French navy already has a “high number of operations and training in the region” during his first official visit to the Philippines as the country’s defence minister.
He stated, “We are working on an agenda of strengthening our presence in the Indo Pacific,” referring to the Asia-Pacific area with a phrase adopted by the US and its allies.
Lecornu presented a comprehensive agenda to raise the visibility of military assets, including proposals to incorporate French jets into joint training exercises.
“It also makes sense for the US Navy. We will be able to ensure that these ships and aircraft are more readily available for use in this fashion. To raise awareness of this, we’ve made the decision to develop an agenda’, he declared.
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Between France and Philippines
Lecornu emphasised how important the bilateral relationship is to France.”It is very clear to the French president Emmanuel Macron that France needs to mobilise itself in the whole of the regions of the world where we are faced with difficulties,” he stated.
There was no timetable given by Teodoro or Lecornu for when negotiations on a visiting troops agreement would begin.
According to a joint statement, it was a part of a “letter of intent” that the two had signed promising to “raise the level of interaction and to consolidate their exchanges through practical cooperation”.
China and the Philippines have clashed numerous times over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
Beijing has defied an international tribunal’s ruling that its claim lacks legal support and continues to claim the majority of the sea, including waterways and islands on the borders of its neighbours.
It has constructed military outposts and man-made islands to bolster its position, and it sends out boats to patrol the seas.
Rich petroleum deposits are thought to be located deep beneath the waves of the sea, and countries such as the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam have all claimed various islands and reefs in the area.
In the Asia-Pacific area, where China and the US are fighting for dominance, France has been attempting to regain its significance.
In seven overseas territories, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia, the European nation has 1.6 million citizens living in the Asia-Pacific region. Its exclusive economic zone covers nine million square kilometres, or 3.5 million square miles. – with reports from Agence France-Presse, ABS-CBN News.
