PH, France to start talks on VFA in May - envoy

Negotiations between France and the Philippines for a possible Visiting Forces Agreement, which will allow French forces to train with Filipino counterparts, will start in May, France's top envoy to Manila said Thursday.

Ambassador Marie Fontanel said a defense committee meeting between the two countries will be held in Paris on the third week of May to discuss "how to proceed with negotiations" for the military accord.

"We will have an opportunity in May to maybe start officially the negotiations, or at least discuss the modalities because there will be a meeting in Paris of the cooperation in defense committee, which is a regular committee, that has already taken place last year, (and held) every 18 months. It's a regular one," Fontanel told a press briefing, adding the talks are slated on May 20 or May 21.

"That's the perfect occassion to officially discuss the ways to negotiate the VFA," she said.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu in December 2023 signed in Manila a letter of intent to bolster defense and security cooperation, which, Fontanel said, includes their "commitment to start negotiations for a VFA."

The goal for the upcoming bilateral defense meeting in France, she noted, is "to make progress on that."

Manila, in recent years, has been expanding maritime and defense security cooperation with allies amid increasing tensions with China in several hotspot areas in the South China Sea, including the Second Thomas Shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin Shoal, and Scarborough Shoal, which Filipinos call Bajo de Masinloc.

Recently, the Philippines have signed separate defense cooperation agreements with Canada and the United Kingdom.

It is also negotiating a military access pact with Japan, called Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA).

Once signed and ratified, the accord will allow more Japanese forces to join annual military exercises involving the Philippines and the U.S., including the large-scale “Balikatan” exercises, and allow Japanese forces to help provide humanitarian assistance faster in the future. 

A vital trading and shipping lane, the South China Sea, dotted with rocks, shoals, and reefs where rich oil and mineral deposits were found, is claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. Parts of the waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone have been renamed West Philippine Sea.

China’s vast territorial claims in the waters have sparked tensions and violent confrontations with smaller claimants like the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Philippines largely won a landmark case against China’s massive claim in the South China Sea before an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, but Beijing does not recognize the ruling.

A VFA between the United States and the Philippines took effect in 1999 and now serves as a legal framework that allows American forces to visit the country temporarily for military exercises and provide humanitarian and disaster-response assistance.

Australia and the Philippines signed a similar accord in May 2007 called the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, or SOVFA, which they separately ratified later.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign troops from establishing permanent military bases in the country.

France said it remains committed in ensuring that rule of law will prevail in the South China Sea and that it remains "free and open" as it reiterated support for the 2016 arbitral ruling.

"It is a matter of principle that we contribute to compliance to freedom of navigation and overflights and UNCLOS in the South China Sea and everywhere in the world," said France's envoy for the Indo-Pacific Marc Abensour in Manila.

"It is also in that perspective that we recall the decision of the arbitral ruling."

In the context of France's Indo-Pacific strategy, the Philippines, Abensour noted is a "key partner" for France as both states are maritime nations.

France, he stressed, has a stake in the Indo-Pacific as it has overseas territories in the region, which is home to over 1.6 million French nationals.

While noting the importance of continuing engagement and cooperation with China, Abensour said France opposes "any threat or coercion which is contrary to rule of law." 

France, he said, does not take sides in the years-long terrtorial row in the South China Sea, but said parties should resolve the disputes through dialogue and peaceful means.

"We are fully committed to freedom of navigation and overflight and UNCLOS and shared commitment that we have with many partners in the Indo-Pacific," he said.

France, he added, has demonstrated its commitment to stand by freedom of navigation through regular deployment of its frigates to the Indo-Pacific for regional peace and stability, saying "more to be deployed in the future." —LDF, GMA Integrated News