Japan, Philippines and US security advisers tackle combined maritime activities
By Robina Asido
As part of their effort to enhance their trilateral cooperation between the three states, the national security advisers of Japan, Philippines and the United States "discussed opportunities to conduct combined maritime activities including multilateral joint naval exercises in Indo-Pacific waters."
This was tackled by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan of the United States, National Security Advisor Akiba Takeo of Japan, and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año of the Philippines as they gathered for the first time in Tokyo on Friday.
The conduct of combined maritime activities between the three states is in "support of freedom of navigation, and the broader rules-based order."
"The three NSAs emphasized the importance of enhancing trilateral cooperation and response capabilities based on the Japan-United States Alliance and Philippines-United States Alliance in order to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," a joint readout released by the White House on Friday.
"Also, they concurred that a free and open maritime order, characterized by freedom of navigation, and a free, fair, and equitable economic order are essential in the Indo-Pacific, especially given unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion," it added.
They also reaffirmed the importance of the first trilateral joint training among the three countries’ coast guards which was conducted in the Philippines early June.
It also stated that during their meeting "the three NSAs discussed a wide range of regional security challenges, including with respect to the South China Sea and the East China Sea, as well as North Korea. In addition, they reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."
During the meeting "the three NSAs resolved to advance trilateral defense cooperation based on the recent progress between the United States and the Philippines such as the four additional locations identified pursuant to their Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and between Japan and the Philippines in discussing frameworks that will enhance and facilitate reciprocal visits of defense and military officials."
"The three NSAs reaffirmed the importance of efforts to promote Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) by utilizing Japan’s new 'Official Security Assistance (OSA)' cooperation framework, the QUAD’s Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) and other capacity building measures," it states.
They also "decided to convene additional trilateral exchanges in the coming months among the National Security Secretariat of Japan, the National Security Council staff of the United States, and the National Security Council Secretariat of the Philippines, to further expand cooperation and information-sharing" between their states. DMS
