TOKYO — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has mentioned the federal government will overview a potential “tripartite agreement” with the Philippines’ two shut allies, the United States and Japan.
Marcos made the comment in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News, in response to the Presidential Communications Office.
The PCO mentioned the President instructed Kyodo News that “many other issues” raised by the Philippine delegation in Tokyo are fostering alliances with its long-time companions.
“It is something that we certainly are going to be studying upon my return to the Philippines,” Marcos mentioned.
“I think just part of the continuing process of strengthening our alliances because in this rather confusing, and I dare say dangerous situations, that we have, I’m not talking only about the South China Sea, I’m not only talking about the Indo-Pacific region but, of course, there is a conflict still ongoing in Ukraine and the rather disturbing effects that it has all around the world,” he mentioned.
The President added {that a} tripartite settlement with the nation’s two allies is a “continuing and ongoing” course of to make extra “solid partnerships and alliances that we are beginning to put together in our areas.”
“So that is, I think, a central element to…providing some sort of stability in the face of all these problems that we are seeing around us,” Marcos mentioned.
Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have earlier agreed to bolster Manila and Tokyo’s protection and safety relations.
The two Asian leaders agreed to have additional bilateral discussions on addressing regional and worldwide conditions, notably within the Indo-Pacific area.
In a joint assertion, Marcos and Kishida resolved to “increase the defense capabilities of their own countries, and further strengthen overall security cooperation.”
This might be accomplished via strategic reciprocal port calls and plane visits, switch of extra protection tools and know-how, steady cooperation on previously-transferred protection tools, and capability constructing. —KG, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
