Gabriel Dominguez
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday wrapped up a three-day trip to Southeast Asia, where he sought to strengthen Japan’s security and defense ties with Malaysia and the Philippines, both of which are expected to benefit from Tokyo’s recently launched military aid program.
The visits, Kishida’s first to each country as prime minister, are part of Tokyo’s efforts to expand and bolster its network of security partners amid growing concerns that its defense alliance with the United States won’t be enough to counterbalance China’s growing military might. At a joint news conference near Kuala Lumpur alongside Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday, Kishida said the two leaders had discussed “accelerating coordination to implement” Tokyo’s new Official Security Assistance program – though it was not immediately clear how much progress the two sides had made.
The OSA framework, first announced in last December’s revised National Security Strategy, will initially provide equipment, supplies and infrastructure development assistance to partner countries, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, in the form of grants, rather than loans. The aim is to strengthen these nations’ security and deterrence capabilities to “reinforce the comprehensive defense architecture,” help deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan and in the South China Sea and create a more favorable balance of power. To deepen security cooperation, Kishida said that the two sides will also work closer together in the maritime domain, including through joint coast guard exercises.
Stronger defense-industrial ties also featured in the talks, Anwar said, adding that the two countries plan to have deeper discussions on these and other security issues by the time the two leaders meet in Tokyo during a summit next month marking 50 years of ties between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan. While heightened regional tensions, territorial disputes and concerns over Chinese assertiveness are driving military modernization programs in most of Southeast Asia, Malaysia has been less focused on acquiring capabilities to confront China on the high seas and more on those that can help it tackle defense and security issues closer to home. Key reasons behind this are presumably funding constraints as well as Malaysia’s view that territorial disputes with other countries in the region, particularly China, should be solved diplomatically. While Malaysia has traditionally emphasized cooperation with China, it has not been neutral, said Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asia expert and professor at the US National War College.
However, it is a claimant country with very limited naval and air capabilities to stand up to Beijing, so it has had to rely on lawfare – such as legal filings over its continental shelf claims at the United Nations – to counter bullying by China, he said.
For instance, Beijing has maintained a near-constant coast guard presence for several years in the Malaysia-claimed waters near Luconia Shoals, where Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas has been exploring gas fields. Both Kishida and Anwar confirmed at their meeting that they will not tolerate any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force, pledging to work closely to deal with the situations in the East and South China seas. “Malaysia has a good relationship with Japan, but Tokyo perceives that Kuala Lumpur sometimes excessively tilts toward China – be it under the Najib (Razak) government or the current Anwar administration,” said Kei Koga, an associate professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
As a result, Tokyo is looking to strengthen security ties with Kuala Lumpur to prevent it from tilting too much toward Beijing and thus enabling it to become less vulnerable to China’s maritime encroachment in the South China Sea, he added.
One country that has taken a much tougher stance on China’s territorial ambitions has been the Philippines, which Kishida visited Friday and Saturday. Building on a February meeting in Tokyo, Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced Saturday that they would begin talks on what is known as a reciprocal access agreement (RAA) – a pact that provides the legal framework for greater bilateral security cooperation – while expanding trilateral ties with their common defense ally, the United States. “We are cognizant of the benefits of having this arrangement both to our defense and military personnel and to maintaining peace and stability in our region,” Marcos told a joint news conference. Tokyo has signed two similar agreements in recent years, one with Australia and another with Britain, both of which came into effect this year. The new deal would mark Japan’s first with a member of ASEAN. Located relatively close to Taiwan and astride key maritime trade routes, the Philippines is considered crucial to maintaining regional security and stability amid concerns that a crisis akin to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could erupt in the region.
An RAA between Japan and the Philippines would allow the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) greater access to Philippine bases, potentially even rotational deployments, and facilitate joint exercises, said Koga. “If the RAA is concluded, it will become much easier for Japan and the Philippines to cooperate militarily and boost the deterrence effect against China,” Koga said, noting the deal would provide Manila with more strategic options to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness. Such a pact would also make it much easier for the SDF to be deployed to the Philippines in times of emergencies, including natural disasters. At the same time, the deal would help strengthen trilateral cooperation with US forces. Earlier this year, Washington and Manila reached a deal that granted access to four additional military sites in the Philippines, allowing the US to substantially boost its defense posture in the disputed South China Sea and near Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Kishida revealed that Tokyo would provide coastal surveillance radars via a grant worth ¥600 million ($4 million), making Manila the first beneficiary of the OSA program. The announcement came just a day after Tokyo said it had delivered the first air surveillance radar system that Manila bought from Japan under a 2020 contract. The prime minister also pledged to help improve Manila’s maritime law enforcement capabilities through port infrastructure development, technology cooperation – including the transfer of more defense equipment such as warning and control radars – and the provision of additional patrol vessels. During his visit, Kishida also became the first Japanese prime minister to address the Philippine Congress. In a speech Saturday, he referred to bilateral relations as “stronger than ever.”
At the same time, he warned that the rules-based international order is “under serious threat,” stressing the importance of multilayered cooperation among allies and like-minded countries, including the United States, to maintain this order. “In the South China Sea, trilateral cooperation to protect the freedom of the seas is underway,” Kishida said. Under its so-called nine-dash line, China claims some 90% of the strategic waterway, despite claims by several other countries. While Tokyo does not have a claim to the waterway, it is a crucial trade artery for Japan. “Japan sees in the Philippines a state with very limited capacity but an increasingly strong will to stand up to Chinese bullying,” said Abuza. Since his election in May last year, Marcos has taken a more assertive stance on territorial disputes with Beijing. He has broken with his predecessor’s staunch pro-China policies, vowing not to lose “an inch” of territory in the South China Sea and regularly spotlighting Beijing’s behavior in the waterway. This year alone has seen several incidents, including last month’s collision between a China Coast Guard vessel and a Philippine resupply ship near the Spratly Island chain.
These series of dangerous and aggressive actions are not only worsening Sino-Philippine ties but could also threaten to escalate into a larger crisis, including one that draws in the United States, Manila’s treaty ally. Sino-Philippine ties have deteriorated so much recently that the Marcos government has suspended a military exchange program with China and canceled a series of development projects under Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. The recently announced deals have been heavily criticized in China, with the state-run Global Times newspaper warning in an opinion piece that OSA implementation will only further escalate tensions as Japan “seeks various opportunities to break through” its self-imposed restrictions on exporting weapons. “Japan’s actions do not adhere to the ‘positive pacifism’ it claims,” the editorial said. On the contrary, by providing defense equipment to Southeast Asian countries, especially those involved in the South China Sea issue, Japan is “creating a tense situation in the region, which is anti-peace.”
The Japan Times
