Japan Pledges Deeper Security Cooperation With ASEAN in Manila
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi pledged closer defense cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during a ministerial meeting in Manila, casting the 11-member bloc as “core” to realizing Japan’s vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Speaking at the annual Japan-ASEAN foreign ministers’ gathering, Motegi said the international order based on the rule of law is facing “various challenges” and vowed to help Southeast Asian nations defend their territories and territorial waters amid China’s increasingly assertive posture across the region.
The Manila meeting came as part of a broader diplomatic push that included a Quad foreign ministers’ session bringing together Japan, India, the United States, and Australia on the same day. The four nations reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and expressed serious concern over destabilizing actions in the East and South China Seas. The coordinated messaging from Manila signaled that middle powers and smaller states are aligning more tightly as Beijing expands its maritime footprint.
China-Russia Live-Fire Naval Drills Inside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone
In a direct challenge to Tokyo, Chinese and Russian navies conducted live-fire exercises within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi confirmed. The drills marked one of the most provocative combined operations by the two countries in waters so close to Japanese territory, and drew an immediate protest from Tokyo. Koizumi described the maneuvers as “extremely regrettable” and said Japan had lodged a formal complaint through diplomatic channels.
The joint exercises underscore the deepening military partnership between Beijing and Moscow, which has alarmed not only Japan but also the broader group of Indo-Pacific democracies. The two navies have held a series of combined drills over the past year, but conducting live-fire training inside another nation’s EEZ represents a significant escalation. Japan has been steadily increasing its defense spending and expanding security partnerships in response, including a landmark reciprocal access agreement with the Philippines that allows their forces to deploy on each other’s soil.
China Sets Information Conditions to Contest Philippine Sovereignty Over Batanes Islands
Meanwhile, China appears to be laying the groundwork for a potential sovereignty challenge over the Batanes Islands, a Philippine province in the Luzon Strait north of Luzon. According to the Institute for the Study of War, scholars at China’s Jinan University held a symposium in Guangzhou claiming the Batanes are historically “affiliated” with Taiwan and thus rightfully belong to the People’s Republic of China. The state-owned tabloid Global Times amplified the scholars’ arguments as if they were factual.
The scholars argued that Philippine sovereignty over the islands had no basis because the 1898 Treaty of Paris that transferred the Philippines from Spain to the United States did not include them in its definition of Philippine territory. They omitted the 1900 Treaty of Washington, which later rectified that omission and formally included the Batanes within Philippine territory. The symposium was convened in response to the Philippines and Japan announcing in May that they would work toward delimiting their overlapping exclusive economic zone claims in the Pacific, a process that depends on the Batanes as the landmass anchoring Manila’s EEZ claim east of Taiwan.
China has not officially contested Philippine sovereignty over the Batanes, but its embassy in Manila has repeatedly refused to comment on the matter, a pattern analysts interpret as deliberately ambiguous. The approach mirrors Beijing’s strategy in the South China Sea, where it has used academic conferences and state media to build narratives supporting expansive territorial claims before asserting them through coast guard and maritime militia operations.
Japan Develops First Central Intelligence Agency Since World War II
As the security environment grows more complex, Japan is developing its own central intelligence agency for the first time since World War II. The New York Times reported that Japan has consulted Germany, the United States, and Australia for advice on technology, staffing, and priorities for the new body. Japanese officials acknowledged a growing need to counter foreign intelligence activities after reporting described Japan as a “spy paradise” for adversaries including Russia, with Japanese components found in Russian drones and missiles despite export bans.
A unified intelligence collection system could streamline Japan’s efforts to suppress espionage threats and harden its military and economy against pressure from Beijing. The PRC has waged an economic and informational pressure campaign against Japan since November 2025 in retaliation for Japan’s military modernization and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment that Japan may intervene in a Taiwan military contingency. That coercion has failed to pressure Takaichi to retract the statement or curtail Japan’s military development, and cooperation between Japan and its allies has only deepened.
The convergence of these developments points to a region entering a new phase of strategic competition. Japan’s simultaneous push for ASEAN cooperation, its own intelligence modernization, and stronger bilateral ties with the Philippines and Australia reflects a comprehensive response to the China-Russia alignment. Whether ASEAN nations will fully embrace that framework remains an open question, but the signals from Manila suggest the appetite for collective defense is growing.