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Abe, Aquino to agree soon on framework for military aid: Sources

TOKYO — Japanese and Filipino leaders will agree this week on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to supply Manila with used military equipment, possibly including aircraft that could be deployed to patrol the disputed South China Sea, sources said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino (left) and Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe will discuss a deal regarding the supply of used Japanese military equipment to Manila. Photo: REUTERS

Philippine President Benigno Aquino (left) and Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe will discuss a deal regarding the supply of used Japanese military equipment to Manila. Photo: REUTERS

TOKYO — Japanese and Filipino leaders will agree this week on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to supply Manila with used military equipment, possibly including aircraft that could be deployed to patrol the disputed South China Sea, sources said.

The deal will mark the first time Japan has agreed to directly donate military equipment to another country, and is the latest example of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s more muscular security agenda.

The agreement in principle on military technology will be announced after Mr Abe and Philippine President Benigno Aquino meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting, starting tomorrow in Manila, said three sources in Tokyo who are familiar with the issue.

It will commit Tokyo and Manila to discuss the type and scale of Japanese military aid, added the sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

“APEC is an opportunity for us to show how far our cooperation has come,” one of the sources said.

Mr Abe and Mr Aquino are due to meet tomorrow.

While the agreement will not include specific aid for now, Japan may begin by supplying three Beechcraft TC-90 King Air planes currently used to train Japanese Self Defence Force pilots that can be fitted with basic surface and air surveillance radar, sources with knowledge of the plan have previously said.

That might then be followed by used Lockheed Martin submarine-hunting P3-C patrol planes, they said.

China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion (S$7.1 trillion) in shipborne trade passes every year. Beijing has created artificial islands in the disputed waters by dredging thousands of tonnes of sand to expand various reefs and rocks in the Spratly archipelago.

Washington has challenged the territorial limits around the reclaimed Chinese islands. Last month, an American guided-missile destroyer, the USS Lassen, challenged territorial limits around one of China’s man-made islands in the Spratlys with a so-called freedom-of-navigation patrol, triggering an angry rebuke from China.

Last week, Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban said that a pair of B-52s flew routine missions in international airspace in the vicinity of the Spratly Islands and received two verbal warnings from a Chinese ground controller. China responded on Friday that it respects freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, despite reports that its ground controllers have issued warnings.

Among the claimant states, Manila is the most at odds with Beijing over the issue. In 2013, Manila filed a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to seek a ruling on the Philippines’ right to exploit the South China Sea waters in its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone — as allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Beijing has said it will neither recognise nor participate in the case.

In a legal setback to Beijing, the Permanent Court agreed last month to hear Manila’s case. Manila has welcomed the ruling, and its Foreign Affairs Department said last week that it would pursue the case “to its logical conclusion”. In response, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted that the case has strained bilateral relations, and it was up to Manila to heal the rift.

Tokyo has no claims in the waterway, but is worried about China’s growing military reach into sea lanes through which much of Japan’s ship-borne trade passes.

Rather than challenge Beijing directly by sending warships or planes to patrol the South China Sea, Tokyo is building the military capacity of friendly nations in the region that have claims to parts of the waterway, such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC leaders’ meeting tomorrow and Thursday. While the South China Sea is not on the formal agenda of the trade-dominated discussions, it is likely to feature in talks on the sidelines.

To allow Japan’s first direct donation of military equipment, Japanese lawmakers will either have to tweak the financial regulations that require officials to sell second-hand government-owned equipment at fair market value, or establish a financing mechanism outside overseas development aid, which cannot be used for military purposes.

In June, Mr Abe and Mr Aquino agreed to begin talks on a visiting forces agreement that would open the way for Japan to use bases in the Philippines to refuel aircraft and resupply naval vessels.

Japan is also building 10 vessels for the Philippine coastguard. AGENCIES

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