PH, Japan affirm commitment to work closely on East, South China Seas issues

The Philippines and Japan confirmed to work closely on issues in the East and South China Seas and other areas of common concern.

During the meeting of Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Enrique Manalo and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Kamikawa Yoko, the two leaders reiterated both sides’ commitment in various areas of corporation, most of them were discussed by President Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Manila two weeks ago.

“The two Ministers exchanged views on regional and global issues of common concern for the two countries and confirmed that they would work closely on issues such as the situation in the East and South China Seas, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and Women Peace Security (WPS),” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said in a statement on Nov. 16.

The two officials met during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) Ministerial Meeting in San Francisco, California.

Both officials concurred “to steadily promote” the bilateral cooperation in areas such as security including Official Security Assistance (OSA), transfer of defense equipment and technology, maritime security capacity building including the provision of patrol vessels, and the commencement of negotiation of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) as well as the materialization of Japan-US-Philippine cooperation.

Kamikawa also reiterated Japan’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian situation, referring to the united message delivered by the G7 Foreign Ministers at the recent G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

The two ministers also agreed to work closely toward the success of the Commemorative Summit for the 50th year of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Friendship in December.