MANILA — The Philippines and Japan signed a landmark Reciprocal Access Agreement on Tuesday that will allow each country’s military forces to deploy personnel and equipment on the other’s soil for the first time, in the most significant expansion of the Philippines’ security partnerships in decades and a direct response to China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
The agreement, signed by Philippines Defence Secretary Teodoro and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi in a ceremony at Malacañang Palace in Manila, establishes a legal framework for joint military exercises, port calls, and humanitarian operations on each other’s territory. It is the first such agreement the Philippines has signed with any country beyond the United States, and the first Japan has concluded with a Southeast Asian nation.
President Marcos Jr., who attended the signing ceremony, described the agreement as “a new chapter in our shared commitment to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.” He said the treaty would significantly enhance the Philippines’ defence capabilities and deepen its integration with the regional security architecture led by the US and Japan.
The agreement is particularly significant for Japan, which has been seeking to expand its security partnerships across Asia as part of Prime Minister Ishiba’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy. Japan has similar Reciprocal Access Agreements with Australia and the United Kingdom, but the Philippines marks its first such arrangement with a Southeast Asian nation bordering the South China Sea.
China’s foreign ministry expressed “serious concern” and accused the signatories of “stoking division and confrontation in the region.” A spokesperson said the agreement “undermines peace and stability in the South China Sea” and warned that China would take “all necessary measures to protect its legitimate interests.”
The US welcomed the agreement. A State Department spokesperson said it represented “a significant step forward in the US-Japan-Philippines trilateral security partnership” and demonstrated the strength of the region’s commitment to the rules-based international order.
Under the agreement, Japanese Self-Defence Force personnel will be able to participate in the annual Balikatan joint military exercises in the Philippines — a significant development given Japan’s constitutional restrictions on overseas military operations. Japan has sought expanded international roles for its SDF in recent years as part of its defence policy overhaul, and the Philippines provides a logical partner given their shared concerns about Chinese behaviour in the South China Sea.
Sources: Reuters, AP, Philippine Daily Inquirer, ABS-CBN, Japan Times, BBC, NHK, China Foreign Ministry, US State Department, Malacañang Palace
Written by Kenji Tanaka, Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief
Kenji Tanaka
Kenji Tanaka covers Asia Pacific security, technology, and geopolitics from Tokyo.