PH in priority list for more Japanese military aid, says Tokyo official

TOKYO — Japan will expand an unprecedented military aid program, the first of its kind since World War II, to help the armed forces of like-minded countries like the Philippines deter threats to the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific, where alarm has grown over China’s aggressive actions.

Since Japan established the Official Security Assistance in April 2023, as it seeks a larger security role in the region, the Philippines has been the biggest recipient of the non-combat military assistance, with the Philippine Navy receiving coastal surveillance radars to improve its maritime domain awareness.

Countries which are in a new priority list to receive the OSA for military equipment and infrastructure totaling 8 or 9 billion yen this fiscal year, which starts April, include the Philippines along with Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Mongolia, a senior official of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is involved in the OSA program, told GMA News Online in a briefing in Tokyo.

“Considering the trajectory of Japan's assistance policy or security policy, this kind of program is unprecedented and supporting foreign countries’ military has long been prohibited,” said the Japanese MOFA official said, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity because of sensitivities over the security program.

“It brings about a new stream of Japan security policy,” the official said and added that regional powerhouses like Australia and China have also provided similar security assistance on a larger scale. “It’s the first time for Japan so even if the scale is not that big, it's symbolic.”

In explaining the rationale for establishing the OSA, Japan’s MOFA said then that the country “is finding itself in the midst of the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II.”

“It is essential for us to drastically strengthen our own defense capabilities as well as enhance the security and deterrence capabilities of like-minded countries in order to prevent unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, ensure the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region, in particular, and create a security environment desirable for Japan.”

Japan’s efforts to shore up its defense muscle and play a security role in the region have long been a touchy issue because of its World War II occupation of Asian countries.

Despite the backdrop of Japan’s war crimes, Philippines-Japan relations have drastically improved and in 2015, both sides elevated their ties to a strategic partnership. Since then, Japan and the Philippines have expanded security cooperation that includes Japan’s substantial assistance in the modernization of the Philippine Coast Guard, which has received at least 12 Japanese patrol ships many of which have been used to safeguard Philippine territorial interests in the West Philippine Sea. Japan is also a top contributor of Official Development Assistance to the Philippines.

In December 2022, Japan declared a new national security strategy, including plans to develop a pre-emptive strike policy and new missile capabilities in a break from its self-defense only principle after WWII as it faces complicated security challenges.

Then led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Japan named China the biggest strategic challenge along with North Korea and Russia toward ensuring the peace, safety and stability of Japan and the international community.

Japan and the Philippines have sought closer security ties in reaction to China's aggressive territorial assertions. Both are locked in separate long-running territorial disputes with China.

China and Japan have contesting claims over over the Senkaku islands, which the Chinese call Diaoyu, in the East Sea.

China and the Philippines, along with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, a vital global trading route that is also rich in undersea oil and gas deposits.

The Philippines refers to portions of the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea.

The West Philippine Sea refers to the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. The Philippines' EEZ was upheld by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016 over China's massive historical claims. Beijing has since do not recognize the ruling.

Under Japan’s new security strategy, it plans to increase its defense spending through 2027 to about 2% of its GDP.

The OSA is not a “one-off” regional security assistance program, the Japanese foreign ministry official said.

“We are hoping that the program gets more budget in the years to come so you're still in the process of our next expansion and consolidation of the program,” the MOFA official said.

“In several years, we will probably be able to work with most countries in ASEAN,” the official said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “But the Philippines is priority number one as you can see.”

Considering the huge funding needed for defense upgrades, the official described the annual OSA assistance to the Philippines as “a humble modest contribution.” The official added, however, that in 10 years these could accumulate to a substantial support to Philippine efforts to boost its maritime security capabilities with the provision of “visible” military equipment like those crucial to surveillance operations but not to be directly used for combat and conflicts.

The Japanese security assistance comes amid fears that newly re-elected U.S. President Donald Trump may scale back American military and defense assistance to allies across the world.

Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, moved to strengthen security alliances in the Indo-Pacific region, including a high-profile trilateral arrangement with the Philippines and Japan to boost economic and security engagements.

Professor Matake Kamiya of the Graduate School of Security Studies in the National Defense Academy of Japan told GMA News Online in an interview in Yokohama, Japan that there should be efforts to convince Trump and his key advisers that maintaining the US-Japan-Philippines alliance is vital to America’s interest.

“For the Philippines and Japan, the most important question is if he'll be consistent with the Biden administration's effort to build a trilateral relationship between our countries,” Kamiya said.

“Trump is a person, who is not particularly interested in having multilateral types of cooperation with other countries, so he may try to maintain the trilateral framework among Japan, U.S. and the Philippines if he believes that the framework will bring benefit to U.S. national interest, he said. “But if he doubts it, he can easily cancel out those efforts. So, that's a thing that we have to worry about.” — RSJ, GMA Integrated News