US, Japan Pledge Maritime Support to Phillipines

 

In separate speeches during the celebration of Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) at Mt. Samat, Bataan yesterday, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa jointly pledged cooperation to secure the pacific region and the Philippines, notably against maritime threats.  

 

The former World War II enemies both vowed to uphold previous agreements with the Philippines in the face of new threats in the region, such as China’s expansion of outposts in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).

 

Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa said: "Our cooperation in maritime security issues based upon the rule of law is a good example. Just this January, two defense ministers signed a memorandum of defense cooperation and exchange in Tokyo.”

 

While the Japanese Ambassador did not say specifically who is threatening the Philippines, it is a known fact that the country has been locked in a dispute with China over territories in the West Philippine Sea. 

 

American Ambassador Philip Goldberg reiterated US President Barack Obama's statement last year that their defense commitment to the Philippines is "ironclad."

 

"In good times and bad, we stand together, shoulder-to-shoulder. In 2015, as in 1942, we face challenges and threats together as partners, friends, and in many cases now, family," Goldberg said in his speech. "And when the Philippines is threatened, it is not alone," he added.

 

Goldberg said the US is working with its former enemy, Japan, in defending the Asia-Pacific region.

 

China is invoking its “nine-dash line” theory to claim almost the entire South China Sea, while the Philippines uses the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as basis for its claim. 

 

The Philippines and Japan have been broadening their security cooperation at sea as they both deal with their own respective maritime territorial disputes with an increasingly aggressive China.