The Philippines and France agreed on Dec 2 to strengthen military collaboration, involving possible negotiations to permit soldiers from each nation into the other’s area. French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro signed a letter of intent in Manila to boost bilateral defence cooperation. “We intend to take proper steps to strengthen and making more comprehensive our defence cooperation,” Mr Teodoro told a collaborative press conference.
That involves seeking authority from their governers to negotiate a status of visiting forces agreement, he revealed. The Philippines has such agreements with the United States and Australia, and recently initiated conversations with Japan for a reciprocal access agreement. Mr Lecornu’s visit is the first leg of his trip across the Indo-Pacific, with halts in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, as well as Malaysia. “We are doing our work on an agenda of polishing our existence in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr Lecornu revealed. France recognises itself an Indo-Pacific power, with over 7,000 troops stationed in overseas territories in the Pacific and Indian Ocean.
The Philippines has been ramping up military ties with many nations in a bid to counter China’s raising assertiveness in the South China Sea, where the two nations have a longstanding maritime dispute. Manila’s claims are backed by a 2016 international tribunal’s governing which denied China’s claims to almost all the South China Sea, where many other nations also assert claims. The Philippines just sometime before started collaborative patrols in the South China Sea waters with the US and Australia.