Latest news with #GeneralSecurityofMilitaryInformationAgreement
Japan Forward
08-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Forward
Ishiba's Philippines, Vietnam Meetings a Boost to Regional Peace
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has just completed visits to Vietnam and the Philippines and held summit talks with their leaders. His trip aimed to check China's growing involvement in Southeast Asian countries. As China seeks to expand its influence by exploiting the backlash to United States tariffs, Japan must strengthen cooperation in the Southeast Asian region. Furthermore, Japan must ensure security cooperation with other countries to maintain regional peace. Japan and the Philippines, located north and south of Taiwan, form parts of the "First Island Chain." Neither country would be able to escape involvement in a Taiwan emergency. Vietnam shares a land border with China and has long been directly threatened by its giant neighbor, as symbolized by the 1979 China-Vietnam War. Moreover, both Vietnam and the Philippines are under military pressure from China and enmeshed in territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. While in Manila, Ishiba met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The two agreed to begin bilateral discussions toward an information security agreement that would allow for the exchange of classified information. What the two sides have in mind is an arrangement resembling the bilateral General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) for the exchange of military information between Japan and South Korea. Currently, Japan is exporting airborne surveillance and control radar to the Philippines. We would like to see an agreement concluded expeditiously and a system established for the smooth implementation of such cooperation. Ishiba and Marcos also agreed to begin negotiations on an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA). This would allow the Self-Defense Forces and the Philippine military to share supplies such as food and fuel. Tokyo and Manila signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) in July 2024 to facilitate mutual travel for the Self-Defense Forces and the Philippine military. Now we hope to see the ACSA concluded as soon as possible. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Vietnam's Communist Party Secretary-General To Lam pose for a commemorative photo. Also on the left is the prime minister's wife, Yoshiko. (©Kyodo) During Ishiba's meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the two sides confirmed the establishment of a bilateral security consultative committee (2+2) for interchanges between their respective foreign and defense vice ministers. The Japanese government also promised to consider allowing Vietnam to participate in the Official Security Assistance (OSA) cooperation framework. Under that framework, Japan provides defense equipment and supplies gratis to the military forces of like-minded countries. Prime Minister Ishiba also discussed US tariff measures with the leaders of Vietnam and the Philippines. The Trump administration is wary of Chinese products being indirectly exported to the United States. Therefore, it set the reciprocal tariff rate for Vietnam, which has strong economic ties with China, at a lofty 46%. Japan should continue to make efforts to prevent Southeast Asian countries from being overwhelmed by China. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Vietnam shortly before Prime Minister Ishiba's arrival. China is a country that has a history of flouting economic rules. It must not be treated as the standard bearer for free trade. (Read the editorial in Japanese .) Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
Yomiuri Shimbun
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Ishiba Holds Talks with Philippine's Marcos; Leaders Expected to Work on Security Cooperation Agreements
The Yomiuri Shimbun Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, left, shakes hands with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila on Tuesday. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is visiting the Philippines, held talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday in Manila. Japan considers the Philippines as a 'quasi ally,' which is the same status as Australia. The two leaders were expected to agree to begin negotiations on an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) to further strengthen security cooperation, and to agree on the need for the early conclusion of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). Ishiba and Marcos were also expected to confirm the deepening of cooperation between Japan, the United States and the Philippines. With China's maritime expansion in mind, they were expected to announce a policy of not approving unilateral changes to the status quo by force. The leaders were also expected to exchange views on tariff measures imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and confirm the importance of free trade.
South China Morning Post
28-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Will closer US-Japan-Philippines security ties create hostile bloc at China's doorstep?
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit the Philippines this week to boost security cooperation, including an intelligence-sharing agreement expected to sharpen regional surveillance of Beijing's activities in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. Advertisement Analysts said China would be wary of the strategic implications of such a deal and the risks of a stronger US-Japan-Philippines security alignment creating a confrontational bloc near its borders. The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) will be a key item on Ishiba's agenda when he arrives in Manila for a two-day visit on Tuesday. The agreement is designed to allow protected and expanded exchanges of classified military information and defence technologies between the two US treaty allies. The Philippines and the United States signed their own GSOMIA in November. Ding Duo, an associate research fellow at China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the military information-sharing frameworks would allow the three countries to track China's activities and deployments in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait 'more promptly and comprehensively'. Advertisement 'The strength of such a sharing network lies in the combination of Japan's advanced maritime and aerial reconnaissance capabilities with the Philippines' geographical advantage,' Ding said.
Japan Times
17-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Ishiba to visit Vietnam and the Philippines from April 27
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to visit Vietnam and the Philippines for four days from April 27 for talks on security cooperation. The trip comes at a time when China is cozying up to Southeast Asian countries, amid growing distrust of the United States in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff measures. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently visited Vietnam and Malaysia, but Japan is hoping to counter Beijing through stronger cooperation with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In Vietnam, Ishiba is set to meet with To Lam, general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, and other top officials to tell them that Tokyo plans to make the country eligible for its official security assistance framework for providing defense equipment free of charge to like-minded countries. The Japanese leader hopes to draw up a memorandum containing the details of future cooperation with Vietnam by next March. He will also visit Vietnam Japan University, established in Hanoi by the two countries as a joint national project. In the Philippines, Ishiba will hold talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., aiming to reach an agreement on starting discussions for forming a military intelligence-sharing pact between the two countries, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA. They are also expected to agree to begin negotiations on an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement that will allow for the mutual supply of ammunition and fuel. Ishiba is also considering meeting with stateless people born to Japanese nationals and left in the Philippines after World War II to convey Tokyo's support for them acquiring Japanese nationality. Ishiba, who attaches great importance to relations with ASEAN, visited Malaysia and Indonesia in January.
Asharq Al-Awsat
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Japan, Philippines Agree to Deepen Defense Ties Due to Alarm Over Chinese Aggression
Japan and the Philippines agreed Monday to further deepen their defense collaboration and talk about protecting shared military information in the face of mutual alarm over China's increasing aggressive actions in the region. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, forged the agreements in a meeting in Manila where their concern over China's actions in the disputed South China Sea and East China Sea was high in the agenda. Japan and the Philippines are treaty allies of the United States, and the three have been among the most vocal critics of China's assertive actions in the region, including in the contested waters. At the opening of his meeting with Nakatani, Teodoro said the Philippines was looking forward to boosting defense relations with Japan 'against unilateral attempts by China and other countries to change the international order and the narrative.' Nakatani said after the meeting that he agreed with Teodoro 'to strengthen operational cooperation,' including joint and multinational defense trainings, port calls and information-sharing. 'We also agreed to commence discussion between defense authorities on military information protection mechanism,' Nakatani said. The Philippines signed an agreement with the United States, its longtime treaty ally, last year to better secure the exchange of highly confidential military intelligence and technology in key weapons to allow the sale of such weaponry by the US to the Philippines. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Teodoro signed the legally binding General Security of Military Information Agreement in Manila at a time when the US and the Philippines were boosting their defense and military engagements, including large-scale joint combat drills, largely in response to China's increasingly aggressive actions in Asia. Nakatani said that he and Teodoro 'firmly concurred that the security environment surrounding us is becoming increasingly severe and that it is necessary for the two countries as strategic partners to further enhance defense cooperation and collaboration in order to maintain peace and stability in Indo-Pacific.' Japan has had a longstanding territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea. Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy ships, meanwhile, have been involved in a series of increasingly hostile confrontations in the South China Sea in the last two years. Also high in the agenda of Nakatani and Teodoro, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, was the 'expansion of bilateral cooperation, especially in the context of the Reciprocal Access Agreement.' Last year, Japan and the Philippines signed the agreement allowing the deployment of Japanese and Philippine forces for joint military and combat drills in each other's territory. The Philippine Senate has ratified the agreement, and its expected ratification by Japan's legislature would allow the agreement to take effect. The agreement with the Philippines, which includes live-fire drills, is the first to be forged by Japan in Asia. Japan signed similar accords with Australia in 2022 and with Britain in 2023. Japan has taken steps to boost its security and defensive firepower, including a counterstrike capability that breaks from the country's postwar principle of focusing only on self-defense. It's doubling defense spending in a five-year period to 2027 to bolster its military power. Many of Japan's Asian neighbors, including the Philippines, came under Japanese aggression until its defeat in World War II, and Tokyo's efforts to strengthen its military role and spending could be a sensitive issue. Japan and the Philippines, however, have steadily deepened defense and security ties largely due to concerns over Chinese aggression in the region.
