Philippines Ratifies Key Defence Pact With Japan To Counter China

The Philippines ratified on Monday a key defence pact with Japan, which allows them to deploy troops on each other’s soil as they boost ties to bolster against China’s growing pressure.

Philippines Ratifies Key Defence Pact With Japan To Counter China

The Philippines ratified on Monday a key defence pact with Japan, which allows them to deploy troops on each other’s soil as they boost ties to bolster against China’s growing pressure. Both countries are longtime allies of the United States, which has been strengthening an arc of alliances to deter China’s disputed territorial claims in the Pacific.

The pact — which also allows for increased joint combat drills — was ratified by the Philippine senate with no negative votes or abstentions, Senate President Francis Escudero said. Whilst Japan invaded the Philippines during World War II, nowadays they have common military ties to the United States and are increasingly at loggerheads with China.

Japan hosts around 54,000 American troops but clashes with China over the ownership of islands, controlled by Tokyo, in the East China Sea.

Filipino and Chinese vessels regularly clash around a disputed shoal Beijing seized from Manila in 2012. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in trade passes annually, and has brushed off an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

South China Sea

The South China Sea encompasses a portion of the Pacific Ocean stretching roughly from Singapore and the Strait of Malacca in the southwest, to the Strait of Taiwan (between Taiwan and mainland China) in the northeast (Fig. 1.5). The area includes hundreds of small islands, rocks and reefs, the majority of which are located within the Paracel and Spratly island chains. Many of these islands are partially submerged islets, rocks and reefs that are little more than shipping hazards not suitable for habitation. Most of these islands are not arable, do not support permanent crops and have no meadows, pastures or forests. But the surrounding water areas are abundant in oil, natural gas, minerals and seafood.

The South China Sea is in the western Pacific Ocean, spanning an area of almost 3.5 million square kilometers. The South China Sea lies to the south of China, to the west of the Philippines, to the east of Vietnam, and to the north of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia. The South China Sea is a crucial shipping lane, a rich fishing ground, home to a highly biodiverse coral reef ecosystem, and believed to hold substantial oil and gas resources. The southern portion of the South China Sea is also the location of the Spratly Islands, a constellation of small islands and coral reefs, existing just above or below water.