“Admiral Kawano expressed interest in conducting more exercises with the Philippines in the future, particularly amphibious landing exercises and amphibious operations”, Defense spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said.
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“The SND (Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin) has welcomed Admiral Kawano’s interest in more activities with the Philippines, emphasizing that with regard to conducting such activities, a VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) with Japan would be needed”, Galvez said.
The implementation of EDCA, which would allow the United States unhampered and free-of-charge use of all Philippine military facilities, has been put on hold pending the resolution by the Supreme Court of several petitions questioning the agreement’s constitutionality.
Stressing that such proposals by China demonstrated what the Philippines had been warning the worldwide community about, Galvez said the facilities are elements of Beijing’s “island building militarization that needs to stop and be dismantled”.
Galvez said Kawano cited the importance of “defense equipment cooperation” and “capacity building cooperation” with the Philippines, particularly in the field of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
The Japanese military official also acknowledged that the conduct of staff-to-staff talks between the JSDF and Armed Forces of the Philippines would enable the two countries to discuss potential areas of cooperation.
The press statement also quoted Kawano as saying that Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for security legislation to allow the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to expand their activities overseas.
In an interview with Xinhua, Jose Cortez, a consultant of the Media and Communication Research Center (MCRC) of the Universidad de Manila (University of Manila), said that the existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) on defense cooperation and exchanges signed by the Philippines and Japan is a blatant violation of the l987 Philippine Constitution.
The Japanese Admiral visits the Philippines a day after China published a newspaper article that criticizes the Philippines for its stand on the South China sea reclamation. “In response, [Gazmin] pointed out that stronger defense relations between the two countries will promote security and stability in the region”, Galvez added.
This could “really lead to multilateral Japan-US-Philippines naval exercises”, a military analyst told Gulf News.
Kawano met with AFP chief General Hernando Iriberri before seeing Gazmin.
Subic: The Philippine air force and navy will go ahead with a plan to open camps in a bustling freeport facing the disputed South China Sea even if a proposed American military presence doesn’t happen, the defense secretary said on Friday.
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Japan has its own territorial dispute with China, over Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
