The Philippines and France agreed to cooperate based on shared values, shared cooperation, not only in the South China Sea but also in the broader Pacific region.
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| Philippine Defense Minister Gilbert Teodoro (right) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu sign a cooperation agreement in Manila on December 2. (Source: AFP) |
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro stressed that after meeting with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu in the capital Manila on December 2.
According to the Manila Times , the two heads of the Philippine and French defense ministries said they agreed to urge the two presidents and relevant agencies to begin negotiations on a visiting forces agreement, which would allow the two countries to deploy troops on each other's territory.
As part of efforts to strengthen defense ties in the Asia- Pacific region and beyond, the Philippines has similar agreements with the United States and Australia and has agreed to begin negotiations with Japan.
These agreements create a legal framework for countries to deploy defense personnel to each other's territories for training and other activities.
“We agreed to cooperate based on common values, common cooperation, not only in the South China Sea but also in the broader Pacific region, where France also has a presence and we want to strengthen defense cooperation and presence with other Oceanian countries,” said Minister Teodoro.
Noting that the French navy has “a large number of operations and training in the region”, Minister Lecornu affirmed, “we are implementing an agenda to strengthen our presence in the Indo-Pacific”.
Neither minister gave a timeline for the Philippines and France to begin negotiations on a visiting forces agreement.
Lecornu’s first visit to the Philippines as French defense minister comes as Paris seeks to reassert its importance in the Asia-Pacific region. The European nation has 1.6 million citizens in the Asia-Pacific across seven overseas territories, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia.
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