Advertisement
As China tensions rise, is Japan mulling troop presence in Philippines to defend Taiwan?
- Japan is boosting military aid to the Philippines and pushing for a pact that would allow both sides to deploy their forces on each other’s soil
- The move is aimed at safeguarding a key waterway separating Manila and Taiwan after Tokyo warned an attack on the island could spark a wider conflict in East Asia
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
3
Japan is preparing military aid for the Philippines to help secure sea approaches and safeguard Taiwan’s western flank, officials say, deepening security ties that could bring Japanese forces back there for the first time since World War II.
Advertisement
As it steps back from decades of pacifism, Tokyo worries that the Philippines is a weak link in an island chain stretching from the Japanese archipelago to Indonesia through which ships must pass going to or from the Pacific Ocean.
Chief among the Japanese military’s concerns is a Chinese attack on neighbouring Taiwan that could spark a wider conflict, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warning that Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow. To help address that, Tokyo in April said it would offer like-minded countries military aid, including radars, that the officials said would help the Philippines plug defensive gaps.
“It is very useful giving radars to the Philippines because it means we could share information about the Bashi Channel,” said retired admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, referring to the waterway separating the Philippines and Taiwan. It is considered a chokepoint for vessels moving between the western Pacific and the contested South China Sea.
Three Japanese government officials involved in national security strategy planning said that Washington was advising Japan on what to supply because it had a close military relationship with the Philippines. One, however, said the aid effort was a Japanese initiative and not anything the United States had pressed for.
Advertisement
Advertisement