The Philippines and Singapore signed a defense pact Wednesday that can allow their militaries to expand their involvement, but there have been few details on how the agreement could help address security concerns within the conflict-ridden region.
Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr signed a memorandum of understanding together with his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen, marking the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries.
The agreement, which was not immediately made public, “serves as a framework to guide existing interactions and promote cooperation in areas of common interest such as military education and counter-terrorism,” Singapore’s Defense Ministry said in a transient statement.
The ministry added that the agreement goals to “strengthen people-to-people ties” and builds on an existing agreement on education, training, assistance and support for humanitarian and disaster relief, but didn’t go into details.
Representatives from Singapore and the 2 Philippines said the agreement was not a so-called status-of-forces agreement, which the Philippines has signed with three countries, including the United States, that permits for large-scale joint combat exercises.
It could allow for joint but limited exercises, reminiscent of “tabletop exercises” simulating responses to humanitarian crises and natural disasters, while maintaining agreed terms of engagement, based on the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to debate the problem publicly.
The administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken steps to forge recent security alliances with numerous Asian and Western countries and allowed U.S. troops at more Philippine bases under a 2014 defense pact, as territorial tensions between China and the Philippines intensified last 12 months over two hotly contested shoals within the South China Sea.
China believes that alliance-building and actions by the U.S. and its allies, including the Philippines, are provocative and aimed toward containing Beijing and undermining regional security.
Teodoro bristled at such Chinese criticism, saying in a speech in May that “calling these joint actions with like-minded nations as containment or provocation is disinformation and evidence of the paranoia of a closed political system.”
In his State of the Nation address to the Philippine Congress on Monday, Marcos stressed that his country wouldn’t back down from its territorial disputes, but said his administration would use only peaceful means to resolve any disputes and would proceed to construct security alliances with friendly countries.
“In the face of challenges to our territorial sovereignty, we will defend our rights and interests in the same just and peaceful manner that we have always done,” Marcos said, adding that efforts were underway “to strengthen our defense posture, both through developing self-reliance and through partnerships with like-minded states.”
Earlier this month, the Philippines and Japan signed a defense pact, referred to as the Mutual Access Agreement, allowing them to deploy their militaries to one another’s territory for joint military exercises, amid China’s increasingly aggressive posture.
Japan and the Philippines have separate territorial disputes with China.
The agreement will enter into force upon ratification by the parliaments of the Philippines and Japan.
The Philippines is holding separate talks with Canada, New Zealand and France on similar defense deals, two Filipino officials said.
Japan and the Philippines are allies of the United States, and their leaders held three-way talks on the White House in April, where President Joe Biden renewed Washington’s “unwavering” commitment to defending them.
