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Japan's Ishiba will discuss Chinese aggression in disputed seas and US tariffs in Philippines visit

[April 29, 2025] By JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday to further boost an alliance in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

Ishiba will meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in Manila later Tuesday at the start of his two-day visit. Their talks are expected to focus on China’s aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea and East China Sea, a reaffirmation of their commitment to a three-way alliance with the United States, and the barrage of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, officials said.

Japanese and Philippine officials are expected to start negotiations this year on two defense pacts, including a proposed defense logistical agreement that would allow the provision of food, fuel and other necessities when Japanese forces visit the Philippines for joint training under a major defense accord that was signed last year and is expected to be ratified by the Japanese legislature.

Another proposed agreement involves the security of highly confidential defense and military information the countries could share. Talks on this agreement are also expected to start this year, according to Japanese and Philippine officials.

“In the South China Sea and East China Sea, China has made unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force,” Ishiba said in a news conference in Tokyo over the weekend before embarking on a trip to Vietnam and the Philippines. “I intend to further strengthen our cooperation with regard to security.”

Chinese coast guard and navy ships, along with suspected militia vessels, have been accused of separately ramming and blocking and using powerful water cannons against Philippine and Vietnamese ships in the disputed South China Sea in recent years.

China claims virtually the entire waterway, where it has bolstered its coast guard and navy presence and built artificial island bases to fortify its claims. Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs.

In the East China Sea, China has routinely sent coast guard vessels and planes into waters and airspace surrounding islands that are claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing to harass Japanese vessels. That has prompted Japan at times to scramble jets in response.

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Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a press briefing at the Government Office in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang, Pool)

The U.S. has repeatedly warned China over its escalating acts of aggression in the disputed waters against Japan and the Philippines, which are among Washington’s staunchest treaty allies in Asia.

However, Trump’s tariff impositions on Japan and the Philippines, among other countries worldwide, have sparked an awkward dilemma among the close security allies.

"The U.S. tariff measures have dealt a major blow to the economies of both Vietnam and the Philippines. In addition, there have been major impacts on Japanese companies expanding into these countries,” said Ishiba, who was scheduled to meet Japanese company executives in the Philippines to hear their concerns.

"Those comments will serve us well as we craft Japan’s policies in response to the tariffs imposed by President Trump,” Ishiba said ahead of his trip.

After visiting a Japanese war memorial in Laguna province, south of Manila, on Wednesday, the Japanese leader is scheduled to board in Manila the BRP Magbanua, one of the two largest patrol ships built by Japan for the Philippine coast guard.

The Magbanua has figured in increasingly hostile faceoffs with the Chinese coast guard in the South China Sea and was damaged in one tense encounter last year in the disputed Sabina Shoal. The countries accused each other then of instigating the high seas confrontation.

Japan has supplied a dozen patrol ships in recent years to the Philippines, which is using them largely to defend its territorial interest in the South China Sea. Japan plans to build at least five more patrol ships for the Philippines. It has also provided radars and other defense equipment for the Philippine military.

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