Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro welcomed Japan’s export rule change, saying in a statement that it will give his country access to defence “articles of the highest quality” that would “strengthen domestic resilience” and “contribute to regional stability through deterrence”.
The Philippines, together with Japan’s southwestern island chain, forms part of what military planners call the First Island Chain, a string of islands that hems in China’s access from its coastal waters to the Western Pacific.
Manila and Tokyo signed an agreement in September making it easier for their forces to operate in each other’s territory and in January eased rules for exchanging military supplies.
US Ambassador to Japan, George Glass, heralded the export rule change in a post on X as a “historic step” to strengthen collective defence. Germany’s envoy to Tokyo, Petra Sigmund, said it created opportunities for deeper cooperation “with the aim of enhancing global stability”.
JAPAN ALSO BUILDING UP ITS OWN MILITARY
Tokyo hopes defence exports will shore up its industrial base by boosting production volumes, lowering per-unit costs and adding manufacturing capacity it could draw on in a military crisis.
Contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries can build advanced systems, including submarines, fighter aircraft and missiles, but for decades have relied on small orders from a single customer, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
Japan is pressing ahead with unprecedented efforts to bolster its military – buying missiles, stealth jets and drones it says are needed to deter any threat posed by neighbouring China to its territory, including around islands along the edge of the East China Sea near Taiwan.
Beijing has said its intentions in East Asia and elsewhere are peaceful.
Tokyo is also developing a next-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy for deployment in the mid-2030s, part of a strategy to share development costs and gain access to new technology.
Japan has steadily increased defence spending in recent years to 2 per cent of GDP, and Takaichi’s government is expected to announce further rises this year when it releases a new security strategy.
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