Philippines, Japan, US vow to deepen trilateral cooperation

MANILA, Philippines — The national security advisers of the Philippines, the United States and Japan have committed to work as a trio to help maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region as well as to broaden cooperation in disaster response and humanitarian assistance.

“Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa, in a Tweet yesterday, posted a group photo of National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Japan National Security Advisor Takeo Akiba taken after their trilateral meeting in Tokyo on Friday.”

“Today marks a historic milestone as Japan, the US and the Philippines’ NSAs come together for trilateral meeting,” Koshikawa said.

“They emphasized the importance of enhancing trilateral cooperation & response capabilities based on Japan-US and PH-US Alliance to maintain peace & stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said in his tweet.

The trilateral meeting was the first ever among the three countries.

On Thursday, the Philippine embassy in Japan announced that Año and members of his delegation paid a courtesy call on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and on Foreign Minister Hayashi.

Kishida, in his remarks during the meeting, recalled the successful visit of President Marcos and the signing of an agreement between the Philippines and Japan on deepening cooperation.

He was quoted as saying that as neighbors and maritime countries, the Philippines and Japan should maintain a free and open international order based on the rule of law.

Año, for his part, read out a special message of Marcos to Kishida, thanking him for Japan’s support for the Philippines.

He also congratulated Japan for its successful hosting of the G7 Summit and expressed deep appreciation for Japan’s support for the 2016 arbitral award upholding the Philippines’ maritime entitlements and invalidating China’s massive claim in the South China Sea.