Defense Cooperation Amid China Threat

Not to worry, it's only a courtesy call on the armed forces chief of staff at Camp Aguinaldo.

      

Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, was given arrival honors on Wednesday at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) general headquarters and proceeded to make a courtesy on AFP chief of staff General Hernando Iriberri.

      

Later, the Japanese admiral was scheduled to go to Subic Bay to observe  Pacific Partnership 2015, an American-led annual activity that seeks to improve inter-operability among Asia-Pacific countries in terms of humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR).

      

Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral HADR preparedness mission in the region.

      

The hospital ship USS Mercy is docked in Subic Bay for this purpose, while other activities will be underatken in La Union with the vessel USS Millinocket.

      

The presence of the top Japanese military commander in the Philippines comes close on the heels of increased island-building by China  in the West Philippine Sea/West Philippine Sea.      

Japan is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China, as is the Philippines. Both countries have therefore increased defense cooperation, with Japan even offering to provide the Philippines with several surveillance aircraft. –End-

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