PH, Japan renews commitment to ‘deepen’ partnership

MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and new Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa reaffirmed the commitment of the Philippines and Japan to “strengthen” strategic partnership.

In a statement on Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Locsin and Yoshimasa discussed key areas of bilateral cooperation between the two countries as well as mutual challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and issues in the East and South China Seas in a phone call on December 8.

“The phone call provided an opportunity for the two ministers to renew the Philippines’ and Japan’s commitment to a wider and deeper partnership at the close of 2021, which marks the 65th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the two countries’ strategic partnership,” the DFA said.

Locsin thanked Yoshimasa for Japan’s recent assistance, including donation of 3 million doses of the Japan-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine as well as becoming the Philippines’ top source of development assistance in 2020.

On maritime issues, Hayashi “strongly” opposed unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.

Locsin thanked Japan for its statements of support for the 2012 Arbitral Award and “law-based order in the South China Sea”.

They also exchanged views on various regional and multilateral issues such as the developments in Myanmar, North Korea and support for measures to address the abduction of Japanese nationals, and commitment to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The two ministers discussed advancing “concrete cooperation” to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) and on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Outlook for the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).

“The ministers also agreed to cooperate on the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Asean-Japan Friendship and Cooperation in 2023,” the DFA said.

They agreed to promote the early launch of the Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting (2+2) for a “deeper security engagement and coordination between the two countries” following a consensus between President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio last month.