Posted on 02/29/2016 7:36:58 AM PST by BenLurkin
Future talks will determine what defense equipment could be supplied, although Gazmin told reporters without elaborating that Japan has initially offered a surveillance aircraft.
“This agreement would really substantiate the Philippines and Japan being strategic partners,” Gazmin said in remarks during the signing ceremony at the Department of Defense in metropolitan Manila which was not opened to the press. “Let me stress that what underpins this agreement is not only our desire to enhance our respective defense capabilities but also to contribute to regional peace and stability.”
Neither side mentioned China’s increasingly assertive behavior in disputed areas but that has been a major security concern by both countries, which are close American allies. “It’s not directed against any country,” Gazmin said of the new defense deal on Saturday.
The Philippines has turned to the United States, and now Japan, as it scrambles to modernize its ill-equipped military after territorial disputes with China began escalating four years ago. Japan has a separate territorial spat with China that has flared on and off in the East China Sea.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Surrounding China with a string of allies.
Ping
They need to with that moron in the oval office. They sure as heck can’t count on us.
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