The PHL-Japan partnership in the Duterte administration’s independent foreign policy

This security partnership serves these two countries’ interests in the face of China’s emergence as a regional power in East Asia.

The Philippines’ diplomatic gambit of pitting the US and China against each other is at the core of its strengthened security partnership with Japan. Since the two countries elevated their ties in 2012, Tokyo has continued to strengthen its relationships with the administration in Manila. Aware that strained Philippines- US relations benefit China, Japan is building on its present position to be an alternative countervailing force.

Alliances can be formal or informal. They may be highly institutionalized and legalistic security structures like NATO, wherein members are obliged to assist each other. They may also be simple partnerships where the states work to strengthen their mutual capabilities. While the latter arrangement may be simple, its impact can be powerful: the Japan-Philippines security relationship is one such example.

THE DEVELOPING SECURITY RELATIONSHIP

Vibrant economic relations between Japan and the Philippines have generated close ties and, since 2010, a security partnership. Japan is one of the Philippines’ most important trade partners and its biggest source of foreign direct investment. The two countries are also US allies that have discussed bilateral security concerns in many international inter-governmental forums. Moreover, the two proactively engage through regional platforms: the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asian Summit, and recently, in the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus, among them.

Prior to 2012, Tokyo and Manila did not see the need to sign a formal agreement on defense cooperation. Both countries were wary that Beijing might misconstrue their security cooperation as an anti- China alliance. This thinking, however, changed when the two were confronted by China’s heavyhanded behavior in the South and East China Seas.

In April 2012, at the start of the two- month Scarborough Shoal standoff, then Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshio Urabe stressed the “close- knit triangular relationship among Japan, the Philippines, and their closest (mutual) ally — the US.” Tokyo became more forthright in extending security assistance to the Philippines.

In July 2012, then Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi