MANILA – The Japanese Embassy in Manila on Tuesday stated there is no such thing as a particular plan but on a South China Sea (SCS) joint patrol with the Philippines, the United States, and Australia however Tokyo will “explore” attainable maritime cooperation to safe the Indo-Pacific area.
As of now, there is no such thing as a particular dialogue about the potential of joint patrol, the Japanese Embassy in Manila advised the Philippine News Agency through a press release.
“Japan will explore the possibility of cooperating with partners to reinforce Maritime Domain Awareness and the maritime law enforcement in the Indo-Pacific,” learn the embassy assertion.
The assertion comes following a report quoting Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez that Manila is in talks to probably embody Tokyo and Canberra in deliberate joint patrols within the SCS.
The Australian Embassy in Manila, alternatively, deferred to Australia’s Department of Defence when requested to remark.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Embassy stated Tokyo is dedicated to additional enhancing protection exchanges with Manila by way of the Japan-Philippine-US trilateral dialogues.
“As in the Japan-Philippines Joint Statement of Feb. 9, both leaders welcomed deepening defense engagements through the participation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in the Philippines-US joint exercises, and committed to further enhancement of defense exchanges through JP-PH-US trilateral dialogues,” it stated.
In a news channel interview in January, Romualdez stated the attainable joint patrols between the Philippines and the US will improve “interoperability” and isn’t essentially directed towards any nation.
He stated Manila has all the time had an settlement with the US for maritime patrols however it was “never really implemented” formally.
“This has been on the table for quite some time and I’m sure that at some point our defense establishment and the US defense establishment will come out with an operational plan to be able to have these joint patrols,” he stated, including such actions may embody different companions like Japan and “possibly Australia.” (PNA)