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The Philippines
This Week in AsiaPolitics

China looms large as Philippines-Japan defence pact heads for Senate showdown

  • Philippines’ Senate foreign relations chief Imee Marcos, the president’s own sister, has vowed to scrutinise ‘every word’ of the landmark deal

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Japan can now deploy its forces to the Philippines under landmark defence pact

Japan can now deploy its forces to the Philippines under landmark defence pact
Raissa Robles
The Philippines is poised to approve a landmark defence pact with Japan, but the timing remains uncertain as Tokyo lobbies for swift passage and Manila’s Senate vows to meticulously scrutinise the deal.

On July 8, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), enabling the two nations to jointly train troops and provide mutual aid during natural disasters. However, the full text of the RAA remains shrouded in secrecy, known only to the presidential palace and the agreement’s signatories.

That veil of confidentiality is unlikely to lift until the Philippine Senate formally reviews the pact on July 22 when it reconvenes. Historically, the upper house has been slow to approve foreign treaties, and the influential head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Imee Marcos – the president’s own sister – has vowed to scrutinise “every word” of the document in the “national interest”.

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But her interpretation of that interest could clash with President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s push for a swift approval.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (right) with his sister Senator Imee Marcos in Quezon City last year. Photo: AP
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (right) with his sister Senator Imee Marcos in Quezon City last year. Photo: AP
Senator Marcos has openly questioned the strategic merits of her brother’s decision last year to grant the US military expanded access to Philippine bases, arguing that it does not serve the country’s interests. She has challenged the locations of these new sites facing Taiwan, bluntly asking at the time: “What’s our fight with Taiwan?”
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Just a week before the Manila-Tokyo pact was signed, Marcos stoked further alarm on social media, claiming she had seen evidence of a Chinese “hypersonic missile” plan targeting 25 sites in the Philippines – an assertion promptly denied by Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The senator insinuated that the increased US military presence would only provoke China’s wrath.
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