Japan plans first joint military drill with US, France as Manila issues more protests against Beijing in South China Sea
- Tokyo has sought to deepen defence cooperation beyond its key US ally to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the East and South China seas
- The Philippines issued two more diplomatic protests over China’s failure to withdraw ‘threatening’ vessels massing in contested areas of the disputed waters
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Japan will hold a joint military drill with US and French troops in the country’s southwest next month, the defence minister said on Friday, as China’s actions in regional waters raise concern.
The exercise, running from May 11-17, will be the first large-scale exercise in Japan involving ground troops from all three countries, the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) said in a statement.
Tokyo has sought to deepen defence cooperation beyond its key US ally to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the East and South China seas.
“France shares the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters.
“By strengthening cooperation between Japan, the United States and France, we’d like to further improve the tactics and skills of the Self-Defence Forces in defending remote island territories,” he said.
Paris has strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific where it has territories, including the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and French Polynesia in the South Pacific.
The joint drills will be held at the JGSDF’s Kirishima training ground and Camp Ainoura in the Kyushu region and include amphibious operation exercises.
06:24
Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes
Japan has long said it feels threatened by China’s vast military resources and territorial disputes.
Washington has reiterated in recent months that the US-Japan Security Treaty covers the disputed islands.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all contest parts of China’s declared territory in the sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, where about US$3 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes each year. An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 invalidated China’s expansive claim, which is based on its own maps.
On Friday, the Philippines revealed it had sent two new diplomatic protests to China over its failure to withdraw what it called “threatening” vessels that were massing in contested areas of the South China Sea.
The Philippine foreign ministry said maritime officials had observed the “continued unauthorised presence and activities” of 160 Chinese fishing and militia vessels around the disputed Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, as of April 20.
Five Chinese coastguard vessels were also spotted around the areas.
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Philippine coastguard sends strong warning to Chinese vessels during South China Sea patrol
“The continued swarming and threatening presence of the Chinese vessels creates an atmosphere of instability and is a blatant disregard of the commitments by China to promote peace and stability in the region,” the foreign ministry said.
Chinese diplomats have denied militia were aboard the vessels. China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday on the new protests.
