MANILA: Ferdinand Marcos Jr will make the first state visit to Japan by a Philippine president in over a decade next month, the presidential palace said on Friday (Apr 24), at a time of deepening security cooperation between the two countries.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will receive Marcos and his wife Louise during the May 26-29 trip, with the Filipino leader also set to meet Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the palace statement said.
Marcos and Takaichi “are expected to discuss the future trajectory of the Philippines-Japan Strengthened Strategic Partnership” as well as international developments, “especially with regard to energy and food security, and maritime security”, it said.
The World War II foes have been strengthening military ties in recent years, with Tokyo supplying coast guard ships and radar systems and signing a reciprocal access deal that allowed Japanese troops to take part for the first time in annual US-Philippines military exercises.
About 1,400 Japanese personnel are currently in the Philippines for the sprawling, 19-day exercise known as Balikatan, or “Shoulder to Shoulder”.
Tokyo has also been a key financer of Manila’s efforts to modernise patrol craft and maritime surveillance systems used in the disputed South China Sea.
China claims nearly the entirety of the strategic waterway despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
In February, US, Japanese and Philippine aircraft patrolled over the Bashi Channel that separates the Philippines from Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, to test what Manila called their “ability to operate seamlessly together in complex maritime environments”.
Little more than 100km separates the Philippines and self-ruled Taiwan, which China has not ruled out taking by force.
Manila said Marcos will also meet with Japanese business groups and members of the Filipino community.
His state visit would be the first by an incumbent Filipino leader since Benigno Aquino’s trip to Tokyo in 2015.
Read the full article here
