Manila, Philippines – Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi have reached an agreement to begin talks on weapon transfers to the Philippines.
The agreement includes Tokyo allowing it to provide a used destroyer to Manila’s Navy, despite the ongoing coercion in the West Philippine Sea, due to the presence of Chinese ships.
Although Tokyo and Beijing have a separate dispute in the East China Sea, Koizumi stressed Japan’s readiness to support any attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea and South China Sea.
Teodoro expressed serious concern over China’s intensifying “coercive activities” in both disputed offshore areas.
Koizumi also paid a courtesy call to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Malacañang Palace where the chief executive acknowledged the participation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in the ongoing largest military drills in Philippine history, with allied countries, such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
About 1,400 Japanese soldiers participated in the exercise this year.
The Balikatan exercise 2026 also witnessed the Type 88 surface-to-ship missile system released by the Japan Self-Defense Forces targeting 75 kilometers decommissioned warship of the Philippine Navy, BRP Quezon, off Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
This is the first time that the Japanese Forces have used the Type 88 missile in a maritime strike as part of the Balikatan exercise.
In 2024, Tokyo and Manila entered into an Agreement on the transfer of weapons to amplified training of Japanese and Filipino soldiers, specifically the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA).