PH-Japan ties crucial for regional security

The war in Iran has sent shockwaves through the Indo-Pacific region, disrupting maritime networks, archipelagic economies, and the open unhindered sea lanes that have long sustained the region’s commerce and stability.

The Philippines is acutely aware of the war’s impact. Not only does the economy rely on freedom of navigation, but there are quiet fears that increasing strains on United States munitions supplies in the South China Sea may risk emboldening China’s already aggressive posture.

US President Donald Trump attempted to calm these regional anxieties in his White House meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, confirming future US-Japan coordination alongside the importance of bolstering alliances with like-minded partners such as the Philippines.

As is the case with Japan, for the Philippines, the significance of such partnerships is unsurprising. Both nations recognize that a free and open Indo-Pacific rests on cooperation between those countries threatened by China’s growing assertiveness.

Significantly, for the first time, Japan is set to join the annual Philippines-US Salaknib military exercise, bringing to the table 300 elite ground soldiers and its ever-growing experience in multinational exercises. This preparation is proving essential with growing threats to regional security, namely from China.

While Japan already participates in numerous other regional exercises with the Philippines such as Talisman Sabre, the announcement of the Salaknib military exercise is another example of the Indo-Pacific’s like-minded partners strengthening defense pacts and enhancing military interoperability.

Japan’s involvement adds significant capacity and is a natural response to growing gray zone tactics and the threat of military incursions by China. It also demonstrates unity, institutionalizing a partnership which has grown stronger in recent years.

For the Philippines, Japan has proven to be a reliable partner in the face of mounting Chinese aggression, including in the West Philippine Sea. It has spent decades developing vital maritime capabilities to defend its own remote island territories.

The two countries share similar interests and experience across the First Island Chain which China recognizes as the Indo-Pacific’s center of gravity.

Beijing’s large-scale military exercises around Taiwan late last year, mimicking an invasion and complete blockade, are precisely what exercises like Salaknib are designed to prepare for.

The region’s key security guarantor, the US, continues to respond accordingly, providing military support to countries like the Philippines, but has called on the region’s main players to also enhance their capabilities. Japan has answered the call.

In this respect, the trilateral US-Philippines-Japan partnership is gaining clear momentum driven in part by Japan’s growing sense of responsibility for regional security.

Japan has been a significant provider of vital defense technology including modernized coastal radar systems, delivering five last month alone to bolster Manila’s capabilities. The Philippines remains a priority country for Japan. It is the only country that has been a recipient of Official Security Assistance for three consecutive years, demonstrating the significance Japan places on the bilateral relationship.

Building on this, the countries signed a new defense pact earlier this year enabling the tax-free provision of material necessary for joint exercises including ammunition and fuel.

The relationship is fundamental to the maintenance of a rules-based international order which protects trade, freedom of navigation, and regional security.

Such cooperation is at the heart of Japan’s long-term Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision, which the Takaichi administration, fresh from a landslide election victory, wants to strengthen.

The vision is getting stronger under Japan’s new administration which has brought forward defense spending pledges including a doubling of total defense expenditure in response to what it defines as the most complex regional security environment since World War II.

The growth of FOIP and of like-minded country partnerships has grown faster than Beijing expected. It has so far responded by issuing economic threats designed to slow growth and force a change in course. Those threatened include the Philippines and Japan.

Economic threats are now combining with increasing Chinese military deployments as seen with its war exercises around Taiwan last December.

The future of the Indo-Pacific will not be forged by any one relationship. Unity is required to uphold an international rules-based order which others seek to destroy.

For the Philippines, ties with Japan are developing rapidly owing to both nations’ shared visions and threats. It is imperative that this cooperation continues in the years ahead.

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John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of “Divided Dynamism―The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China.”