PH-Australia new pact clears way for joint drills
The Philippines and Australia inked a new defense pact on Sunday that would get rid of procedural bottlenecks for the conduct of joint military activities, as both nations push back against China’s increasing aggression in the South China Sea.
The Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA), signed in Manila, updates a 1995 memorandum of understanding between Manila and Canberra and creates what the allies outlined in a statement in August as a “contemporary bilateral defense framework” as they seek to bolster their security alliance.
Anti-red tape
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese witnessed the signing of the agreement between Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Marc Innes-Brown and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who said the pact “streamlines the coordination process” between both sides militarily and could open the door for Manila to access Australian equipment.
“The existing memoranda are fragmented,” Teodoro told reporters. “So now, it’s all consolidated into one, and the coordinative mechanisms have also been streamlined so the work gets done faster.”
“Rather than 100 steps to do a single thing, it will just now take 10,” Teodoro said, describing the deal as an “anti-red tape measure” for the Philippine-Australia visiting forces agreement. “And it will be more purposive and not ad hoc.”
Australia is one of Manila’s closest allies in the region and a consistent supporter of the Philippines’ position in the hotly contested South China Sea. China’s sweeping nine-dash line claim over the strategic waterway encompasses Manila’s exclusive economic zone, which it calls the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Broader cooperation
A United Nations-backed tribunal had invalidated Beijing’s claim to almost the entire South China Sea, ruling in 2016 that its historic claims under a 1940s map had no basis under international law. China has refused to recognize the ruling.
Teodoro said the DCA will help ramp up joint maritime drills with Australia in the West Philippine Sea and could broaden cooperation into joint air and ground force exercises, including humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
“It will bolster our credible deterrence posture in areas where we have jurisdiction,” he said.
In 2007, the two nations forged a visiting forces agreement allowing their troops to hold joint exercises in each other’s territories. The pact came into force in 2012.
The Philippines has sought to deepen its defense partnerships beyond its traditional ally, the United States, forging closer ties with western nations and regional allies as it confronts growing Chinese assertiveness in the West Philippine Sea.
