Japan, Philippines Broadly Agree on Defense Equipment Transfer Pact

Manila, Nov. 19 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Philippine President Benigno Aquino reached a broad agreement on a pact to enable the transfer of defense equipment and technology from Japan to the Philippines in their meeting in Manila on Thursday. The two leaders reached the agreement with a view to boosting bilateral cooperation in dealing with the tensions in the South China Sea, where China is increasing its maritime activities, sources with access to the meeting said. Abe also showed a positive stance on providing the Philippine coast guard with a large patrol ship. When Aquino requested the provision, Abe said he wants to consider it concretely. Japan and the Philippines agreed to launch negotiations on a bilateral treaty on defense equipment when Aquino visited Japan in June. Assuming that Japanese equipment to help increase the Philippines' surveillance capabilities, such as patrol aircraft, would be transferred to the Southeast Asian country, the two countries plan to accelerate their respective domestic procedures for an early conclusion of the pact. In the day's meeting, Abe and Aquino agreed that they share serious concerns over China's maritime activities including its construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea. Abe said Japan supports the Philippines' efforts to resolve the territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea through judicial proceedings. The two leaders signed a document on Japan's provision of low-interest loans worth some 240 billion yen in total for a railway construction project in Manila. The bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of a two-day summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that ended Thursday. END