Japan, Vietnam boost defence ties as South China Sea tensions mount
HANOI, Vietnam — Japan and Vietnam agreed to step up security and defence cooperation Monday, reaching an agreement in principle for Tokyo to export defence equipment and technology to the Southeast Asian nation.
The deal comes as concerns mount over China's increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea, with Beijing expanding its military presence in the region.
The pact would allow Japan to export equipment, likely including patrol planes and radar, to Vietnam, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo.
"It is a big step in the field of security and defence cooperation between the two countries that we reached an agreement in principle on the transfers of defence equipment and technology," said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Hanoi during his first visit overseas since taking office last month.
"And I believe that it will advance further."
The resource-rich South China Sea is claimed in its entirety by Beijing but is also contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
China has reinforced its claim to the waterway by building up small shoals and reefs into military bases with airstrips and port facilities, and it launched ballistic missiles in the flashpoint waters in August as part of live-fire exercises.
"The two sides agreed to tighten cooperation before regional challenges including the issue of the South China Sea," said Suga.
They would also work together on the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea, he said.
Japan suspects dozens of people who are still missing were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s to train their own spies in the Japanese language and culture.
Japan and Vietnam also reached an agreement on starting "business track" flights after travel between the two nations was suspended in March.
This would allow executives and skilled workers to travel without a 14-day quarantine period provided they follow certain COVID-19 precautions, Kyodo said.
The United States Navy's Nimitz-class nuclear powered supercarrier USS John C. Stennis continues underway in the South China Sea.
The US Pacific Command just reported that it has received "cargo" from support ship USNS Rainier in the disputed waters.
#GreatGreenFleet's USS @Stennis74 receives cargo from USNS #Rainier in the #SouthChinaSea - @US7thFleet pic.twitter.com/MnJWrow6Vv
— U.S. Pacific Command (@PacificCommand) June 10, 2016
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources conducts an aerial maritime inspection over Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc on Thursday, according to a report of PTV.
PTV says BFAR is checking if the southeast portion of Bajo de Mansinloc remains free from illegal and hazardous floating barriers.
Earlier this week, the Philippine Coast removed the chains surrounding the entrance of Bajo de Masinloc installed by the China Coast Guard. — PTV
The National Security Council condemns the installation of the floating barriers of the China Coast Guard in Bajo de Masinloc, PTV reports on Monday.
“It ruled categorically that such action by the PRC violated the traditional fishing rights of our fishermen in the shoal who have been fishing there for centuries," NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya says.
"Any State that prevents them from doing artisanal fishing there violates UNCLOS and international law, in general,” he adds.
PTV reports that BRP Antonio Luna of the Philippine Navy and HMCS Ottawa of the Royal Canadian Navy conducted a joint sail in the West Philippine Sea on Sept. 21.
“The joint sail is part of the Philippine Navy's regular engagements with its partners in the Philippines' maritime zones. Bravo Zulu to all the personnel of both ships and those who planned this activity," Ltc Enrico Gil Ileto, Public Affairs AFP chief says.
WATCH: BRP Antonio Luna of the Philippine Navy and HMCS Ottawa of the Royal Canadian Navy conducted a joint sail in the West Philippine Sea on Sept. 21. (????: AFP Wescom) | via Bea Bernardo (1/2) pic.twitter.com/DmJguzJSiF
— PTVph (@PTVph) September 22, 2023
Ahead of the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcis Jr, the descendants of the Bai sa Condor and Anta sa Tebouk, on behalf of the Iranun in the Philippines composed of 16 sultans, formally declares ownership of the Spratly Islands and the Scarborough Shoals as patrimony from their ancestors.
The declaration of ownership is led by Sultan Tomas Reyes Cabili, Jr. as part of the advocacy of the Tomas Ll. Cabili Foundation (TLC Foundation).
"TLC Foundation is doing this for our country’s sake as a whole on our claim for what is ours. Not just for our Muslim brothers and the Moro Origins of Mindanao (IRANUN), BUT for all the Filipinos - and the next generations to come. All the Philippines’ descendants of the Iranunis unfurling the historical dimension of the Spratlys and the ScarboroughShoals to strengthen the Philippines' claim on them and complement the theoretical frameworks already presented in the United Nations," Cabili says.
Raymond Powell, project lead at the Gordion Knot Center for National Security Innovation, tweets that China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels "maneuvered dangerously close" to two Philippine Coast Guard ships on a resupply mission at Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea last week.
In a tweet, Powell identifies the ships as BRP Malabrigo and BRP Malapascua. He says these were escorting a small-boat resupply mission to the Philippines' outpost aboard BRP Sierra Madre and were met by an armada of CCG and militia ships, as well as a possible navy vessel.
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